FWR Search Results

82 articles found by Sean Smith
Date	Story
2009-03-10	Zero Boys: Midwest punk legends "When the Ramones lost it, the Zero Boys found it, adding a slam brigade fist to the Blitzkrieg Beat. This Indianapolis based band managed to come with one of the best early 80's punk records, or one of the best records ever, period." - Federico
2009-01-05	From the mind of Sterling Clark Professional comic book illustrator Sterling Clark became fascinated by comic books as soon as he was able to read. He was first exposed to them at local drug stores, department stores and vending machines. His favorites were published by Marvel Comics…
2008-12-23	Local artist’s faves of 2008 Sean asks to local musicians about their faves of 2008.
2008-12-23	Local artist’s faves of 2008 Sean asks to local musicians about their faves of 2008.
2008-12-09	Alt-country icon Tim Easton plays the Brass Rail If you need an idea of how highly regarded singer-songwriter Tim Easton is, you need know nothing more than Wilco served as the guy’s backing band his second solo album The Truth About Us (2003). Among alt-country fans, Easton is considered one of the brightest talents out there, with four albums to his credit, (his first, Special 20, came out in 1998) and the fifth, Porcupine, due in April 2009. Last August, he released an album with fellow songwriters Leeroy Stagger and Evan Phillip that, like much of Easton’s work, has received an enthusiastic response from critics.
2008-11-06	Wooden Satellites: Why Can’t I Be Enough For as long as I can remember, I've been a fan of underdogs. Be it when Daniel Larusso had his leg swept by Johnny or that time David faced off with Goliath, I was most certainly cheering on for the unlikely victor. These days, truthfully, David seems about as real as that crane kickin' karate kid. Maybe that's why Wooden Satellites new album, Why Can't I Be Enough, resonates so clearly with me.
2008-10-21	John Shaffer: genre-hopping musician lands on MTV When John Shaffer was growing up in, he heard all kinds of different music playing throughout the house. His brothers listened to Boston, Journey and Yes, while his parents were often playing music by country artists like Kenny Rogers and Johnny Cash.
2008-10-07	Jay Reatard: Discovering the new American Dream Since releasing his first song as a teen, Jay Reatard (born Jay Lindsay) has pursued his goals on his own terms. Eschewing the traditional path towards success - college, corporate job, marriage, yada yada yada - Reatard chose to chase down every musical genre under the sun and give it his own personal spin. Whether it was country or punk or rap, he created and dismantled a handful of bands along the way in order to learn and grow as a musician.
2008-09-10	Possum Trot Orchestra: Night Crow The best way to summarize The Possum Trot Orchestra and their musical output over the years would be growth. The group, primarily known for their expert playing of folk/bluegrass, now consists of John Minton (vocals/guitar), Susie Suraci (vocals/guitar), Rob Suraci (bass), Dave Kartholl (mandolin) and Jon Hartman (drums) and their newest album, Night Crow, contains some of the most straight-forward rock 'n' roll songs yet.
2008-08-18	Greg Locke: Easin’ Down the Road After working in record stores for nearly a decade, Gregory William Locke III began a career as a music writer, first, as a critic of albums in 2003 and then, three short years later, as a weekly columnist with the ever acerbic, “Ease Down the Road.” But, all good things must come to an end and Locke will soon be heading west and planting roots in Seattle. My friend, former roommate, fellow music journalist and Stage Banter co-host was kind enough to share his thoughts on the recent past and our mutual love for the artistic side of life.
2008-08-04	The Orange Opera: Stronger than ever I've never been a big fan of clichés. Puns and ridiculously awful jokes, sure, but I tend to despise overly used phrases. To my alarm, the sad truth is that the best way to describe The Orange Opera is with the old adage, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Despite going through guitarists in much the same way that Spinal Tap went through drummers and an ever expanding tour itinerary, Kevin Hambrick (vocals, piano, guitar), Bryan Brubaker (bass) and Kevin Hockaday (drums) are still churning out consistent, quality pop songs.
2008-07-21	Nick DiFilippo a.k.a. deflipo: Turning heads with his turntables Nick DiFilippo is a happy man these days and why shouldn't he be? The monthly electronic music event that he helped to co-found is celebrating two years in October and during this year's Three Rivers Festival there was a free all day electronic music festival, Free Flow, which took place from noon until midnight on July 19th at Friemann Square, with two stages worth of electronic music for people of all ages to enjoy. The Free Flow event has taken place in the past, but this was its inaugural run as a 3RF sanctioned event.
2008-07-07	The slow and steady rise of original music in Fort Wayne In the last decade or so, original music and its place in the Fort Wayne community has made a dramatic shift. No longer relegated to a few weeknights for a handful of bands to willingly perform, local original music is now front and center and, most would argue, stronger than ever. Nearly every traditional venue, along with some very non-traditional ones, seeks out and promotes bands that wouldn't play “Freebird” if their lives depended on it.
2008-07-07	Phyzikal: Motivating the Summit City When Jermaine Williams was growing up on the south side of Fort Wayne, he had big dreams. He hoped to become a successful rapper and overcome his rough childhood. Williams, who is better known in the music world as Phyzikal, took the first big step toward fulfilling that dream when he signed a contract with Def Jam Records in October of last year.
2008-06-23	Kyle Morris: Steady Diet of Strange Kyle Morris is sitting across the room while telling me about a strange film he's recently seen. This is the first time we've talked and it's the first thing he discusses with me. The movie starred Peter Fonda and it involved all sorts of counter culture behavior. The more he recalls, the more I'm fascinated. Fascinated by the film and his storytelling abilities. Fascinated, even more so, that he took the time to watch, as it turns out, the entire thing. But, as it also turns out, this is the sort of thing that fuels Morris and has resulted in his full length debut album, Pica.
2008-05-20	Lee Miles: Singer-songwriter prefers discussing politics over music As I knocked on Lee Miles' door, I couldn't help but feel a bit hesitant. The last time I talked to Miles, he threatened to punch me in the mouth. Instead, he put his muscle to his music and came up with a more varied album in the form of Heathen Blux. The hushed tones and careful strumming that dominated his previous album 1000 Lions has been replaced by thicker melodies and a fuller sound.
2008-05-20	Hillgrass Bluebilly Entertainment If you've been paying attention to the local music community in the last six months, there's a pretty good chance you've come across the name Hillgrass Bluebilly Entertainment. Perhaps you've seen the logo on show flyers, numerous websites, t-shirts or hats. And more than likely, you've been a tad curious just what exactly HBE is. The answer, much like HBE, is quite simple. They are a promotional company.
2008-05-06	Matthew Ryan: Provoking Conversation With Brave and Honest Music In the last year, Little Brother Radio — on 9 p.m. to midnight every Saturday on WBOI 89.1 FM — has become a vital part of the Fort Wayne music community. The weekly broadcasts have allowed local and regional bands to be heard by thousands of new listeners. Tune in and you'll hear everyone from Sankofa to Vandolah and Metavari to Zephaniah. They truly champion the spirit of independent music, which is what makes Matthew Ryan such a natural fit for their 1st anniversary concert at C2G on May 16th.
2008-04-21	Blue Mountain: Alt-Country Pioneers still standing strong Blue Mountain might not be a household name, but oftentimes the best bands aren't. Founded in 1991 by Cary Hudson (guitar and lead vocals) and Laurie Stirratt (bass and vocals), Blue Mountain are one of the few bands that are still active from the burgeoning alt-country scene of that era. They released their first album, Blue Mountain, in 1993 and followed it up with four more albums, before releasing their fifth and 'final' album, a live recording titled, Tonight It's Now or Never.
2008-04-08	Record Store Day: Celebrating Independent Record Stores on April 19 I love records and record stores. When I was a kid all of the record stores were stocked floor to ceiling with vinyl. I never saw an 8-track until years later when I came across my father's copy of a Rolling Stones greatest hits album on the antiquated format. By the time I was halfway through elementary school I had moved on from vinyl to cassettes. In high school I made the leap to compact discs. Luckily, I was never duped into joining the mini-disc 'revolution.' The newest format would be mp3, but I don't know much about that since I've never downloaded an album. But, millions of people have and the result hasn't exactly been positive for records or record stores.
2008-03-24	Matthew Sturm: Living the Dream When singer/songwriter Matthew Sturm decided to move to New York a few years ago it didn't come as any great shock.
2008-03-10	*Grave Robber: Be Afraid, be very afraid* Larry Norman, 'the father of Christian rock music,' recently passed away, but in his lifetime he influenced everyone from Bob Dylan and David Bazan to Frank Black and Bono. In 1972, he famously quipped 'Why should the devil have all the good music?' In the here and now, Grave Robber — Wretched (vocals/guitar), Dementia (bass) and Dr. Cadaver (drums) — are doing everything they can to even the musical score.
2008-02-18	Zephaniah: A New Chapter in the “Book of Metal” You may not know how to pronounce Zephaniah (say: Zeff Uh Nigh Uh) and that's okay. All you need to know about is their music. That's really all that matters to the members of the band. Logan Detwiler (vocals), Tyson Miller (lead guitar), Justin Zych (lead guitar), Tyler Sumwalt (bass) and Ian Bender (drums) play heavy metal music, or power metal to be specific, and their secret weapon is Detwiler.
2008-02-18	Down the Line 2 Generally, I don't enjoy cover bands and would prefer a band play original material, but when bands perform a solid block of songs by a particular artist, like at Down the Line 2, all bets are off. I can't argue with hearing some of the top local talent tackling material by rock icons.
2008-02-04	Ben Laatsch: Trip out west creates Magic When it came time for singer-songwriter Ben Laatsch to get some of his songs recorded for a demo, he chose to work with his friend James Musselman a.k.a. Longsleeves. Sure, Laatsch could have had his pick of numerous studios here in the Fort Wayne area, but he made the decision to work with Musselman for a variety of reasons.
2008-02-04	Bon Iver:For Emma, Forever Ago When Justin Vernon a.k.a. Bon Iver isolated himself in a cabin in northwestern Wisconin during the winter of 2006/2007, creating an album was the last thing on his mind. The plan was to simply get away and get some space between him and the series of losses he'd endured throughout 2006.
2008-01-21	Local performers' favorites of 2007 A few of the folks we talked to in 2007 list their favorite musical moments from last year
2008-01-07	Thunderhawk: What's in a name? I'll admit it. At first, I didn't think that Thunderhawk existed. My friend Greg Locke passed along a song that he wanted me to hear. I trust his taste in music, so I gave it a listen and couldn't believe my ears. It sounded as if every great 90s indie rock band that he had ever cared about was playing all at once. There were elements of Pavement, Guided by Voices and Sebadoh.
2007-12-26	The 5 Best Albums You Didn’t Hear In 2007 Five great albums that slipped under the radar in 2007.
2007-12-24	Todd Hembrook: Hometown Boy Makes Good With Deals Gone Bad On August 11, 1996 a band by the name of Skavossas played their very first show. The ska band's line-up consisted of Justin Maloney (guitar), Travis Roth (tenor sax), Jay Freimuth (trumpet), Ben Meyer (drums) and Richie Kunz (bass). Oh, and there was a singer, too. His name is Todd Hembrook. The band's line-up, the style of music they played and even the name of the band would change before they disbanded in the earlier part of this decade.
2007-12-11	Sankofa:The Tortoise Hustle You could call The Tortoise Hustle, the third official album from rapper Sankofa, a well crafted album even before listening to it. Consider that it comes housed in a stamped and numbered tin, and then consider that the record is his “longest-marinating effort” yet. Finally released in September at a launch party that included Definitely Gary, Sub-Surface, Left Lane Cruiser and Rockefeller 4, The Tortoise Hustle boasts songs just as varied and creative as the line-up from that evening.
2007-11-20	Fatima Washington: One-Time Wallflower Steps Into the Spotlight Fatima Washington was once shy. You'd never know it to see her on stage now, but when she first began singing she was more than happy to be in the corner, or as she puts it, "an actual piece of the wall." But to hear her these days is to realize that the wallflower has most certainly bloomed. Through her weekly performances at the Blu Tomato, Washington has gained a loyal group of fans and has plans to win over more with an album she has in the works.
2007-11-01	The Firehouse and Jabin Burnworth: No Amount of Water Can Put Out Their Fire For the better part of a decade, the Firehouse in North Manchester has been hosting indie rock bands and re-writing the book on all-age venues. Since opening in 2000, the people behind the scenes have proven that hard work, respect and a genuine love for good music can make anything possible. One of those people is Manchester High School Biology teacher Jabin Burnworth, a frontrunner for world's friendliest person and one of the biggest supporters of music, local and national, this planet has ever seen.
2007-10-22	Phosphorescent: Matthew Houck's Pride and Joy When Phosphorescent's debut album, One Hundred Times or More, was released it was bulldozed with two common comparisons. Everyone dubbed Matthew Houck, who essentially is Phosphorescent, either 'the next Will Oldham' or 'the next Jeff Mangum.'
2007-10-22	My encounter with Carl Bernstein October 10th 2007 is a day that I won't soon forget. In fact, I think it's safe to say I won't ever forget that day. Not only did I meet Carl Bernstein that day, but I was put in place by him, as well. And let me tell you, you really haven't lived until you've been put in place by someone who is at the top of his game in your chosen field.
2007-10-08	Kevin Hambrick: Full time musician/part time promoter Kevin Hambrick, singer/songwriter for The Orange Opera and a solo artist, has had one busy, yet successful, year so far…
2007-10-08	Mad Ants: Get ready for the infestation It seems hard to believe, but Fort Wayne has gone without a minor league basketball team for over six years now. Considering the fanaticism our city and state have for the sport, it is nothing short of shocking.
2007-09-24	Tasha Denae: Doing exactly what she wants to Tasha DeNae is a talented songstress that you may not be aware of, but she's been singing her entire life and if she has her way the music she creates will be around for a long, long time. DeNae recently released her first mix tape and is hard at work on her debut full length album.
2007-09-07	The Ike Reilly Assassination: Get ready for a Staggering Evening On September 13th, One Lucky Guitar will celebrate seven superb years of graphic design by hosting The Ike Reilly Assassination. I received a copy of Ike's debut album, Salesmen and Racists, from the head of OLG, Matt Kelley, years ago. Press play on the album and you'll be welcomed with, 'Last time I couldn't make you come.' So, you see, to say Reilly is bold would be a perverse understatement. The man calls it as he sees it and he's seen a lot.
2007-08-19	Metavari: giving hope to those who listen There is a scene in The Royal Tenenbaums where Royal, the patriarch of the Tenenbaum family (broken though it may be) is exposed and the family becomes aware of his 'scam' to worm his way back into the family fold. No longer convinced that he is 'dying' of stomach cancer, he finds himself out in the cold and tries to explain that he has a renewed sense of hope. His youngest son, Richie, points out that he was never really dying, to which Royal counters, "But, I'm gonna live!" That best encapsulates the music and message of Metavari. Giving a sense of hope and renewal to those who are willing to listen.
2007-08-06	Ty Causey: Soulful "Expressions" It's no secret that Ty Causey is an extremely talented singer-songwriter. His blend of smooth R&B and jazz has already netted him three critically praised albums. All of them the result of a fairly busy recording schedule these past few years. After releasing his debut album, N-Tysing, in 2004, he has released an album every year since — Love Notes, in 2005 and N'-Tysing: Rekindled, in 2006. This year is his most prolific yet, as he recently released two albums and hopes to release a third, Spiritual Dialogue, by the end of this year.
2007-07-23	Manchester Orchestra: the "next big thing" still sleeps on the floor Manchester Orchestra released their full-length debut album "I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child" in the fall of 2006. After positive critical notices and great mainstream attention (including high praise from Rolling Stone) they’ve signed a deal with a major label, Sony, to re-release the album on July 24th, allowing more people to hear a record that deals with faith, loss and ultimately, hope.
2007-07-09	Fort Wayne's Music Veterans Fort Wayne has always been fortunate enough to have a varied and vibrant music community, but how does the present compare to the past? Have the amount of venues increased? Has public support decreased? What pitfalls should today's musicians avoid? These were the questions I put to some of the area's veteran musicians. Thanks to Bob, Duane, Geo, George and Michael for the stories, the laughs and most of all, the music.
2007-06-18	Robbie Fulks: Getting his Revenge! Ask what kind of artist Robbie Fulks is and you're bound to get a myriad of answers. Country, Alt-Country, Insurgent and Retro are all more than likely to be suggested. All that really, truly matters is that he is authentic, intelligent, humorous and challenging. Fulks will be playing June 21st as part of the D.I.D.’s Freimann Family Thursdays outdoor concert series.
2007-06-05	Little Brother Radio: It’s Broadacious It couldn't have been more than five minutes into my conversation with Rich Lee and Rob Wood when I realized what excellent people they were. Lee recalled Rob and himself traveling out of state for a music festival and witnessing a performance by The Fixx. Most people might be troubled by that sort of thing, but they weren't. That is, not until they didn't perform, 'A Letter to Both Sides,' their contribution to the Fletch soundtrack over two decades ago. At that moment I decided I was buying whatever they were selling and it turned out to be the deal of the century. (I apologize for making two Chevy Chase references in as many sentences.)
2007-06-05	Expired magazine Like any city its size, Fort Wayne has many different cultures — punk, Hip-Hop, skateboarding, graffiti art and others — bumping up against one another. Some of these tend to be overlooked or ignored altogether. Recently three local artists have joined forces to change all of that. They are doing their part to bring these cultures and those spearheading them to the forefront and into focus. Eric Stine, Daniel Dienelt and Julie Morrison have created Expired, an on-line magazine which made its debut in May and spotlights all of the above and more at www.expiredmagazine.com and also offers exclusive music and video content.
2007-05-21	Between the Rooms: Transmobile Duo can sometimes seem like a dirty word. Being a solo musician means never having to answer to anyone else and the examples of such are a mile long. Trios have the stream-lined thing down: Guitar, bass and drums. Power trio usually comes to mind, as do groups such as Rush or Sugarplastic. But duo? Duo usually causes names like Seals & Crofts or Loggins & Messina to spring to mind.
2007-05-21	Kan-tis: Here to Rock Your Face Off "We met at a Star Trek convention and noticed a void in the time and space continuum. After that there was no other choice."
2007-05-08	Resonance Quartet: No rules, no structure, no problem Ryan 'Sexy Alexxx' Bennett, Eric Rutkowski, Sean Townsend and Mike Vojtkofsky are the kind of guys who don't take themselves too seriously but are serious about what they do musically. The fact that they referred to themselves as The Dwight Schrute Quartet before settling on the more accurate Resonance Quartet is proof positive.
2007-05-08	"Dream with a Window" debuts at Cinema Center "The way I describe the film is a meditation on suicide, depression, psychosis," offers fima-maker Townsend, "It's a different approach to narrative…"
2007-04-24	Andromeda unleash the ambitious Blue Collar Music D.J. Polaris and Brainstorm, the production guru and emcee (respectively) that make up the hip hop duo Andromeda, were friends long before they started making music together in high school. They honed their skills while they were both students at Howard University in Washington D.C., putting out two cassette-only releases under the name Original School.
2007-04-10	Devon Sproule: Making Her Own Path Defining Devon Sproule is not in the least bit easy. Unique? Warm. Quirky? Getting warmer. What is certain is that since an early age she has released three very entertaining and energetic collections of songs. Sproule is just days away from releasing her fourth record, Keep Your Silver Shined, and lucky for Fort Wayne she will be here to perform on the eve of that release.
2007-04-10	Maia Sharp: Respected songwriter takes the spotlight Maia Sharp may not be a household name, but chances are you have an album with a song she wrote. Mindy Smith, Bonnie Raitt, Edwin McCain, Lisa Loeb, The Dixie Chicks and Trisha Yearwood have all released albums with songs penned by Sharp. Go get your copy of Shivaree's excellent debut album, "I Oughtta Give You a Shot in the Head for Making Me Live in This Dump." It's okay. I'll wait. Now play track eight, “I Don't Care.” That song was written by Sharp. See what I mean?
2007-04-10	Road Trip In spite of all the great strides that have been and continue to be made in order to bring a more diverse line-up of music to town, some road trips are still necessary. Recently I made back-to-back treks out of the city limits to check out two very important bands that released very solid albums last year that wound up on my top ten list.
2007-04-10	Summit City Noise Dean Robinson has been known to come up with some pretty good ideas over the years. Last summer, he came up with a doozy. On April 8th at 1 a.m. on NBC 33/ Comcast 13, Fort Wayne can get a first hand look at the media savvy Robinson's newest project, Summit City Noise.
2007-03-20	The Freezing Scene: No Computers Necessary Brothers Jason and Adam Bodnar have been playing music together for a year now and in that time they have come to be known as The Freezing Scene. While you might not believe it when you hear it, their music is completely concocted without the aid of any computers. Every note is created using a few simple instruments. Simple, but unique instruments.
2007-03-07	Six Parts Seven: "Blanket Warm" Music For These Cold Times Six Parts Seven have been releasing incredible album after incredible album since forming more than a decade ago in Kent, Ohio. Since 1995 they have recorded and issued some of the most intelligent and inspiring music on a handful of labels, the majority of it on Suicide Squeeze (Minus the Bear, Hella, The Crystal Skulls). Their most recent album, "Casually Smashed to Pieces', was released in January
2007-02-21	Fort Wayne Hip-Hop Dance: Anything But Routine When I was eight years old I saw the movies Breakin', Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, and Beat Street and quickly became determined to learn and recreate the moves I had seen in those films. My cousin and I would take a sheet of cardboard to the local grocery store and lay it down on the linoleum floor next to the video games and vending machines where mothers left their children while shopping. We would try and cram as many moves together as we could, while also trying to impress one another with something new we had thought up to try, before our parents were done picking up everything they needed. Things sure have changed since those days and it's been a change for the better.
2007-02-06	"Something to Believe In": Something to get stuck in your head I remember it as if it were only yesterday, stumbling home in the bitter cold a few hours past midnight after one too many gin gimlets, brushing all the past due notices and utility bills aside to slump onto the couch and fall asleep to some television. As I was bathed in the light from the TV screen, the room filled with a holy chorus. Images of school children and blue collar workers, basketball nets and local landmarks danced in front of my eyes to the uplifting music. Suddenly, Ryan Elijah, Curtis Smith and Linda Jackson were looking back at me and smiling. Behold: Something to believe in!
2007-01-23	Standard Recording Company: Not At All Average Standard Recording Company, an independent record label based out of Indianapolis, sure has come a long way since its creation in late 2001. Mark Latta, who runs and owns the label, says, "I had always wanted to do something like this." It sure is something. A little over five years and numerous releases later, the label has a roster of nine artists who all reside and were discovered right here in Indiana.
2007-01-10	2007: sounds like a good year for music The start of each new year brings with it a sense of excitement, and for music fans, 2007 is shaping up to have more than its fair share of new releases and live shows to check out. There’s also a couple new ways to find new music… but more on that in a minute.
2006-12-20	Sean’s Top Ten Albums of 2006 At first I thought it would be easy to pick the ten best albums of 2006. But as is often the case, by the time November swung around there were plenty of great albums piling up, all fighting for contention.
2006-12-20	Peer review I was curious to find out what other musicians and those involved in the music scene thought of their peers, so I decided to ask a handful what they thought were the best local albums released this past year and local shows that they attended this past year as well.
2006-12-05	Lee Miles' House Party Everyone from Grant Lee Phillips and Peter Stuart to Martin Sexton and some guy named Jeff Tweedy have been known to sit down in someone's living room and play some tunes armed with nothing but an acoustic guitar. House shows in Fort Wayne are not very common, but if Lee Miles has his way that's about to change.
2006-11-21	Sub-Surface: Get Ready for The Others The long awaited full-length album from Sub-Surface is finally here and from the sound of things, the wait was definitely worth it.
2006-11-08	I, Wombat: the Real Thing Depending on which definition you go by, a wombat is either an Australian marsupial or an act involving narcotics taking place in any given college dorm on any given day. In this instance, we will be using the former as the word meaning. Yes, the wombat, unlike the jackalope, is real. Boy, is it ever!
2006-10-23	All Nite Skate: Confident in Their “Western Shame” To put it simply, All Nite Skate are one of Fort Wayne’s most unique bands. Omar (guitar), Cole (bass, banjo and keyboards), Darcy (keyboards, bells, and accordion), Bob (guitar and harmonica) and Kay (drums) create the sort of music you would normally hear after road-tripping two or three hours in any direction.
2006-10-09	Sketch Machine: Drawing a Crowd Jeremy Gerardot loves music, and like a lot of music fans, he loves making lists — top 100 songs, top 50 albums, etc. When Gerardot isn’t making lists about music, he’s actually making music with the band Sketch Machine.
2006-09-18	Why I can’t live without mewithoutyou My first experience with mewithoutyou (mwy) was earlier this decade. Some friends of ours had a death in the family and at the viewing I kicked up a conversation with a youth minister. We talked about some cool bands (Dashboard Confessional, Pedro the Lion, Coolhandluke) and then mentioned that the kids he ministered to were going to Cornerstone. When I told him I had been there in the mid 90s, he invited me along.
2006-09-04	Chris Dodds Chris Dodds used to play to a crowded house and not get home until four in the morning. On a good night. These days you’ll still find him playing to a room filled to capacity, but he’s more than likely getting home at a more reasonable hour. Oh, and there is one other slight difference these days as well: He’s playing more shows than he ever did before.
2006-08-21	Bee’s Knees: Catch Their Buzz Whenever I see Bee’s Knees, I think of the Barenaked Ladies’ song “If I Had $1000000,” because I would love to make a standing offer to the greater Fort Wayne public: Double your money for cover charge and/or first round of drinks if you can manage to keep from movin’ along to the music at any of their shows.
2006-08-07	Fort Wayne Music in 2006: So Far, So Good With another year half gone, it seems like a good time to review what we’ve seen and heard in the recent past. The music and the overall scene have really grown considerably and it looks like it isn’t going to slow down anytime soon. There have been some tremendous albums released, some fantastic shows put together, and some real growth in different genres. There’s no better time than now to reflect on what has been and what shall be.
2006-07-24	5 Bands You Should Know The ear-melting hardcore of Saints Never Surrender, the Beatlesque rock of The Orange Opera, the deft flow of Sub-Surface… there are plenty of original bands in Fort Wayne that you don’t hear enough about. FWR’s music critic Sean Smith seeks out five of the bands in Fort Wayne that you should check out. FWR's music writer Sean Smith brings you 5 local bands you should know.
2006-07-10	Jon Ross: Does He Ever Sleep? They say that James Brown is the hardest working man in show business, but ‘they’ have never met Jon Ross. Ross is currently entertaining folks in seven different bands, six of which he plays drums for, and he shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. Heck, in the time that it took you to read these first few sentences he sat down with a few other local musicians and discussed starting another band.
2006-06-20	Left Lane Cruiser: Fat Possum or Bust What do R.L. Burnside, The Black Keys and Left Lane Cruiser all have in common? They all play North Mississippi Hill Country Blues and if Left Lane Cruiser has their way they will sign with Fat Possum Records, home to Burnside, the Keys and many other masters of the genre.
2006-06-05	lo.automatic: high expectations Lee Miles’ favorite comedian is Neil Hamburger. This is essentially all you need to know about Miles. It speaks volumes that his funnyman of choice has made a career out of being patently unfunny. Such is the un-rock n roll lifestyle of Miles. He doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink, doesn’t stay out late. What does he do? He writes amazing songs.
2006-06-05	The Possum Trot Orchestra: Good Folk The folks who make up the Possum Trot Orchestra are well versed at their instruments and play some of the best Americana music being recorded these days, they also happen to be some of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. The Possums have just secured a series of shows at the Starbucks on East State that will take place on the fourth Friday of every month until September. The shows will last from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. and there is no cover. The Legendary Trainhoppers have asked them to share the stage on June 16th as part of the Wayne Calhoun series. The show will get underway around 7 p.m.
2006-05-18	Avett Brothers: Raucous Boys from North Carolina Few bands have taken the credo ‘less is more’ to heart moreso than the Avett Brothers. Consisting of Scott and Seth Avett, on banjo and guitar respectively, and Bob Crawford, on upright bass, the Avett (pronounced AYE-vett) Brothers create songs more rockin and foot stompin than bands twice their numbers.
2006-05-08	Vandolah: Walking Back into the Spotlight Mark Hutchins, lead singer/songwriter/guitarist for Vandolah, is reminiscent of Sean Penn. When Penn grew frustrated with the scripts he was receiving and the films he saw getting made, he started making the kind of films he wanted to see. Hutchins also grew tired of hearing enough of the same thing and sought to create something altogether different. The dream is realized and for proof look no further than Vandolah’s second album, Walk it Off.
2006-04-10	Matthew Sturm : Lucky Guy It’s rare that Matthew Sturm channels his energy into interests without getting bored. He used to be the self-appointed number one fan of television’s ‘Alias’, but these days he’s not quite sure if the show is in it’s fifth season. One thing is for certain, he stopped watching somewhere around the third season. He once wrote a screenplay, ‘Time to Leave’, lined up local actors and scouted locations, only to have his attention torn away by the same thing that always wins out in the end: music.
2006-03-20	Definitely Gary’s Kinda Sorta New Deal When Definitely Gary took the stage at Columbia Street to premiere their new album The New Deal, it wasn’t just the audience that was hearing the album for the first time…
2006-03-20	Whammy roundup The 6th annual Whammy awards proved to be one of the more exciting in recent years. Maybe it was the arrival of performers and presenters in limos to red carpet entrances, maybe it was the Definitely Gary hosted afterparty, or maybe it was the duel all star jams that took place around the halfway mark. All I know is this year’s ceremony is going to be awfully tough to beat.

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