1) Easy Street Band, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Tangier, 532 W. Market St., Akron, $25-$40, 330-376-7171, http://thetangier.com.

This band is a local legend and was one of the most popular bar bands in the area throughout the 1970s and 80s. Once again members are gathering in the fall as they have for the past several years to play and party with their fans and friends. These shows usually sell out and it’s almost like a high school reunion, if your high school was a bar and your principal was a big, burly, boisterous bearded dude in a kilt hoisting a Guinness. (Hey, Westside Steve!)

2) Howl-O-Ween Fall Festival and Pet Adoption Event, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday, Akron Dog Park, 499 Memorial Parkway, free, www.akrondogpark.org, 330-510-1364

Find yourself a new furry friend among the many rescued dogs and cats that will be on site or just dress yourself and your current furry roommate in ridiculous outfits and you might win a cash prize! There will also be a variety of games (including the “Poop Toss” and “Graveyard Golf”), pet- and people-related food vendors and the Akron Police Department’s K-9 Unit will show off its unique skills.

3) Boo at the Zoo, 5:30-8 p.m. Friday and Oct. 26, 3-8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and Oct. 27 and 28, Akron Zoo, 500 Edgewood Ave., 330-375-2550, www.akronzoo.org.

No, you don’t get to vocalize your disapproval of the animals (“Booooo! Your roar is inadequate, lion!), but you and your little ones can attend a “scare-free” night of fun that includes treat stations.

4) Jazz & Wine Total Experience: Sweetest Day Concert, 7 p.m. Saturday, Holiday Inn: Akron West, 4073 Medina Road. Bath Township, $15 in advance, $20 at the door, 330-554-3481, www.livemusicsets.com.

Hey look, we all know “Sweetest Day” is a bigger card/flower/chocolate shilling scam than St. Valentine’s Day. No one wants to be a tool of the greeting card industry, but hey, is giving your loved one an extra day of special attention a bad thing? Probably not. So check out jazz vocalist Sherena Wynn along with the music of DJ MoLee while dancing and/or feeding your special someone a variety of entrees that include grilled salmon and classic surf and turf.

5) Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys, 8 p.m. Sunday, Kent Stage, 175 E. Main St., $30-$37, 330-677-5005, www.thekentstage.com.

Singer/songwriter/banjoist Dr. Ralph Stanley, as he’s known, is the real deal in the world of bluegrass music as the inventor of the “Stanley Style” of banjo playing. The Grammy winner, who received a lot of attention for his contribution to the Coen brothers popular film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” keeps it traditional. He’s also 85 years old. … I’m just sayin,’ if you’re a fan or just interested … don’t dawdle.

Read Soundcheck, the blog by Malcolm X Abram.

When Howard “Sonny” Robertson brought his St. Louis Blues to Akron more than three decades ago, he started a new life and a new band.

He brought with him many lessons learned from his parents — a gospel singer and a vaudeville “buck” dancer — and from his years as an understudy to blues and gospel greats including singer Willa Mae Ford, singer/guitarist Albert King, his godfather singer/pianist/guitarist Henry Townsend and as a touring musician playing legendary places including the Apollo, the Uptown in Philadelphia and the Regal in Chicago.

Robertson’s Howard Street Blues Band was born shortly after his arrival. On Saturday, the 71-year-old and the current version of his band along with a few old friends and ex-band mates will celebrate 32 years of singing and playing rockin’ and rollin’ electrified blues and R&B with an anniversary show at the Blue Note Lounge, a relatively new West Akron club.

Robertson’s band currently consists of bassist Billy Hill, drummer Jeremy Kimble, guitarist Michael Lehrer, keyboardist Freddie Shepard, longtime harmonica/horn player Victor Head and a singer simply named Andrea. But he expects several of the more than 30 players with whom he has graced the stages of Northeast Ohio to come in and jam a bit.

Robertson currently has two albums of mostly original tunes available online — From the Ashes and From the Banks of the Mississippi: Kissing the Monkey — as well as a 55-minute aural book, When Sonny Gets Blue, at his website sonnyrobertson.com.

“I didn’t realize how many guys that I had touched in this town or came through my camp and guys I had mentored,” Robertson said from his Akron home.

Robertson is an equal opportunity boss and that cabal of guys range from well worn area veterans to recent University of Akron grads looking to do some woodshedding and learn the business of being a sideman in a working band.

But just as Albert King and Willa Mae Ford taught Robertson many important lessons about music and being a working musician, Robertson enjoys sharing his knowledge with his band members who have gone on to start their own bands including the Jukehounds and Mo Better Blues Band.

“All those guys who came through my camp are guys I done gave the game to and that makes me feel good, too, because they went off and did their own stuff and that’s what you do,” he said.

Among the lessons for longevity Robertson has passed along to his band members is that though their passion for playing music is important, passion and talent alone won’t get them gigs, keep their name in the mouths of potential fans or help them build up a stable of welcoming area venues.

A lot of younger players “don’t treat this as a business,” he said adding that he does his own marketing to keep his “name out there anyway I can.”

“I do everything I can do to market my band and keep it operating just like a business, same way I look at it. It’s not a hobby to me.

“That’s the way these guys have to approach it,” he continued. “Your equipment has to be good, you got to look good. You can’t never come to the gig and the people in the audience look better than you.”

Another lesson passed on is that though it may be called the Howard Street Blues Band, there is only one man in charge and Robertson knows he’s left some hurt feelings among those many band members.

“I just tell it exactly like it is and I deal with it straight up, and if your feelings get hurt your feelings get hurt,” he said.

“What you think and what you feel is on you, but I’m not running a democracy. If you do that, then you got a bunch of guys telling you ‘we should do this’ and ‘we should do that.’

“Nope. Until you can show me that you really can contribute or add something to it, then I’ll listen to you, but the buck stops here,” Robertson said.

He said that most of the former band members who left under less than great circumstances still want to work with him because he’s always working. Besides playing in and around Akron, the band makes trips back to his hometown of St. Louis and other cities such as Indianapolis and has done some touring throughout Europe.

Robertson said when he first arrived in Akron in the early 80s, establishing himself and his band was a difficult process.

“They just started hiring minority musicians when I came and started to play the white clubs. I was the first,” he said. “A lot of club owners weren’t so much being prejudiced; they were just scared of how their clients were going to feel.”

Robertson said the Akron clubs have gotten a bit better over the years and he can do quite well in outlying towns such as Hudson, but there are still clubs in Akron (“I won’t call their names”) that will not hire him or any band of minority musicians.

Nevertheless, the septuagenarian bluesman loves his job and playing for people and doesn’t yet see the light of retirement at the end of the long tunnel of gigs.

“Man, I’m just like B.B. King, I’ll play this stuff till I croak,” he said laughing and pointing out that friends and peers Henry Townsend, Robert Jr. Lockwood and Snooky Pryor played into their 90s.

“I don’t know if it’s the blues that keeps you there or if it’s just a good shot of whiskey that keeps you going, if you don’t overdo it. And keeping that Good Book …

“You gotta get down on your knees sometimes and let the Good Father know you appreciate the good things that happen to you.”

Malcolm X Abram can be reached at 330-996-3758 or by email at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com. He’s also on Facebook as Malcolm X Abram. … Go figure.

Read Soundcheck, the blog by Malcolm X Abram.

Ken Ritter
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS: Police in Las Vegas say entertainer Flavor Flav is jailed on felony charges stemming from a domestic argument with his fiancee and threats to attack her teenage son with a knife.

Officer Bill Cassell says no one was injured before the arrest around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday at a home in a residential neighborhood several miles southwest of the Las Vegas Strip.

The 53-year-old former rapper and reality television star, whose legal name is William Jonathan Drayton Jr., was being held on $23,000 bail at the Clark County jail, with an initial court appearance scheduled Thursday. It’s not clear if he has a lawyer.

Drayton was part of the 1980s and 90s rap group Public Enemy whose public persona includes wearing a big clock on his chest.

Associated Press

LONDON: Teen superstar Justin Bieber has teamed up with the Adidas NEO Label to be its new global style icon.

The two-year partnership with the German sportswear company was announced Tuesday.

The Canadian pop star, who cites James Dean as his fashion idol, says the collaboration is a “perfect fit” because “we both believe in living life to the fullest, being young, free and making our own style.”

The 18-year-old singer will front the company’s ad campaigns and fans will be able to shop for his personally selected favorite looks. He describes his offstage style as simple, saying he chooses “clothes that look good” while onstage it’s all about “comfort, great color and fit.”

Bieber is touring the United States on his “Believe” tour, which moves to Europe early next year.

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES: Jennifer Hudson embodied the look of one of her idols, Whitney Houston, during a tribute to the late singer in Los Angeles.

Rocking a pompadour and glittery jacket reminiscent of Houston’s stage costumes from the 1980s, Hudson belted out a medley of Houston’s hits Thursday at the Nokia Theatre for “We Will Always Love You: A Grammy Salute to Whitney Houston,” which will air as a TV special next month.

Houston died in February at 48 from accidental drowning complicated by drug use and heart disease.

Britney Spears, LL Cool J, Halle Berry, Taraji P. Henson, CeCe Winans and Yolanda Adams also participated in the musical tribute.

Spears said she’s always been “a huge fan” of Houston’s, adding, “I think that her voice is better than God.”

 Mick, Keef, Ronnie and Charlie a.k.a. The Rolling Stones (inc.) are still making music, and here’s the new single from the Glimmer Twins and company that will be on their upcoming Greatist Hits compilation (yeah, that’s right, yet ANOTHER compilation/touring excuse because "Tumblin’ Dice and "Start Me Up" are so hard to find…)

Anyway, the tune is a sneering, chunky-chorded blues rocker with a dash of lyrical social awareness…Get ready to hear this song as the going-to-commercial music bed in every televised sports event for the next several weeks (perhaps finally pushing out the Black Keys "Gold On The Ceiling")

..Love it? Hate it?

‘Doom And Gloom’ marks the first time that Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood have been in the studio together for seven years. Taken from the forthcoming album GRRR! Greatest Hits, ‘Doom And Gloom’ was recorded in Paris and produced by longtime Rolling Stones producer Don Was, who has worked with the band on five previous albums (Voodoo Lounge/ Stripped/ Bridges To Babylon/ Live Licks/ A Bigger Bang), with the radio mix produced by Jeff Bhasker.

GRRR! Greatest Hits, out November 13th from ABKCO/Interscope/UMe, is a must for Stones fans featuring a second brand new recording ‘One More Shot’, as well as classic tracks Gimme Shelter, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Street Fighting Man, Start Me Up, Beast of Burden, Tumbling Dice, Love Is Strong and more.

Read Soundcheck, the blog by Malcolm X Abram.

I found this band’s first two records pretty boring Radiohead lite, but they have certainly goten more interesting over the years and from what I’ve heard they put on a pretty darn good show…

CLEVELAND (October 8, 2012) – Muse returned to the Saturday Night Live stage this weekend in an episode hosted by fellow Brit Daniel Craig. The trio, who last graced Studio 8H in Season 35, started off with the dubstep-inflected "Madness," followed by "Panic Station." Both songs are from their sixth album, The 2nd Law, which came out last week. The band will be heading back to North America for their 2nd Law tour in January, making a stop at Quicken Loans Arena on February 28th.

Tickets are $35.00, $45.00 and $59.50 and go on sale this at 10 a.m. Friday, October 12 www.livenation.com and at all Northern Ohio Discount Drug Marts,
the Quicken Loans Arena Box Office, charge by phone (888) 894-9424

Muse scores the fourth No. 1 album of their career this week as new album

The 2nd Law topples Mumford & Sons from the top spot. The Westcountry trio’s latest album has already been certified gold after one week on sale, joining previous releases Absolution, Black Holes and Revelations and The Resistance in giving the band a No.1 album.

For more information on Muse please visit: http://muse.mu 

Read Soundcheck, the blog by Malcolm X Abram.

By Malcolm X Abram
Beacon Journal pop music writer

So, the rock hall nominations were released last week and, per usual, the list included a few “Well, duh, of course they should get in,” along with a couple of “Wait, they’re not in already?” and one or two “Really, them? Before artist X?”

Anyway, usually after the announcement, I get a few irate emails/calls from folks wondering what the hell those rock hall nominators are smoking in New York City. And I have no idea, in part, because the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, which chooses the nominees, wants it that way.

Transparency is not a part of the process and likely never will be as the international voting body of more than 600 “artists, historians and members of the music industry,” that votes for the inductees from the group of nominees, generally doesn’t seem to give a crap about what the fans (you know, the folks who made these artists potential hall of famers) think about the credibility of the rock hall.

Nevertheless, for the first time, the foundation is throwing fans a tiny bone this voting cycle by allowing them to have a collective vote (and pushing up the page-hit counts for rockhall.com, hbo.com, cnn.com and rollingstone.com, where fans can cast votes). In other words, if 50 or 50,000 music fans vote for, oh, let’s say Rush, when the time comes to tally the votes, those 50 or 50,000 votes will collectively count as one vote … versus the other 600 voters whose votes will count as one per voter.

It’ll be interesting to see whether the rock hall will be transparent with the fan-vote count.

Another aspect of the process that may affect the result is that I’ve always had the feeling (and this is based on absolutely no solid information) that the bulk of the voters are of a certain age.

I think that many of the 600 voters are friends and associates of rock hall executives, so their age would likely be within a decade or so of rock hall bigwig Jann Wenner’s 66 years and the hall’s biggest bigwig Ahmet Ertegun’s 83 years (at the time of his death in 2006).

I hope I’m wrong, and that there are at least a few folks under 50 casting votes or that the voting body is on a rotational system like many corporate boards of directors (perhaps that’s how Rush and Deep Purple slipped in this year).

If not, the nominations might get more odd as we move into potential nominees from the early 1990s if voters still try to get their favorites in while shutting out those they hate and wondering who all the ’90s bands are on the list.

(“Nirvana? I know them, yes! But, say Jann, what the hell is a Wu-Tang Clan? Some kinda racist Chinese rock band?”)

Acoustic show in Canton

If you are a fan of Grey’s Anatomy, Pretty Little Liars, Vampire Diaries, Parenthood, The Big C, Hellcats, In Plain Sight, Ugly Betty, Army Wives and/or Target, Ritz and Old Navy commercials, then you likely have heard the ukulele-laced music of indie pop singer/songwriter Ingrid Michaelson.

The Staten Island-bred soprano makes music that is perfect for quiet coffeehouses as well as (obviously) providing the necessary emotional music bed for a close-up of Dr. McSteamy looking longingly at Nurse McGleamy or whomever is the object of his affection, I don’t watch that show.

Michaelson, who released her fifth album in January, will play an acoustic show at the Canton Palace Theatre at 8 tonight. The concert is being called a Homeless Benefit Concert and is a collaboration between ICAN Housing Solutions, Alliance for Children & Families and the YWCA of Canton.

Michaelson is on a 25-date tour for Human Again, which hit No. 1 on iTunes and made the Top 5 on the Billboard charts. She is making a special stop in Canton at the behest of her aunt Margaret Egbert, executive director of the Canton YWCA, and the singer’s own desire to help folks.

The opening act will be her tour partners, the groovy, retro-bluesy, rock ’n’ roll duo Sugar & the Hi Lows.

‘Ripper’ comes home

Tim “Ripper” Owens briefly will return to his hometown and restaurant this weekend to play his first show at his Ripper Owens Tap House in five months.

It’ll be a free, all-ages, early evening, acoustic show marking the end of his band’s European tour and the start of the U.S. tour (seriously, the dude works constantly), and as he says, it will be “nice and early and after the Browns game, most likely you will need something to cheer you up. LOL.” Ouch.

Speaking of which, I hope everyone shows some patience (I know, it’s been 13 years, but what’s a couple of more?) with young(ish) Brandon Weeden, T-Rich and the Browns’ banged-up, young offense.

We all know that Browns President Mike Holmgren is likely already strapping his golden parachute to his Harley for his seemingly inevitable (0-5!) ride back to the West Coast. But defensive coordinator Dick Jauron has the defense playing, ah, football, and the young offensive weapons show promise.

Perhaps, whichever receiver chosen by soon-to-be owner Jimmy Haslam III’s front office in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft can show Greg Little how to actually catch the ball (and not tweet verbal middle fingers to the fan base after he has a bad game).

DETAILS

What: Ingrid Michaelson with Sugar & the Hi Lows.

When: 8 tonight.

Where: Canton Palace Theatre, 605 Market Ave. N.

Tickets: $25-$125.

Information: 330-454-8172, www.cantonpalacetheatre.ticketforce.com.

What: Tim “Ripper” Owens.

When: 6 p.m. Sunday.

Where: Ripper Owens Tap House, 491 E. Waterloo Road, Akron.

Tickets: Free.

Information: 330-785-3500.

Malcolm X Abram can be reached at 330-996-3758 or by email at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com. He’s also on Facebook as Malcolm X Abram. … Go figure.

Read Soundcheck, the blog by Malcolm X Abram.

1) Rhapsody in Blue: Akron Symphony Orchestra, 8 p.m. Saturday, E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall at the University of Akron, 198 Hill St., $22-$52, 330-535-8131.

The Akron Symphony takes on one of the most beloved pieces of music in American history, George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” Levi Hammer, Akron Symphony assistant conductor and music director of the Akron Youth Symphony, will be tinkling out the famous melody on the ivories and there will also be pieces from “West Side Story” and “Candide.”

2) Marion Meadows, 8 p.m. Sunday Tangier Restaurant & Cabaret, 532 W. Market St., Akron, $35-$45, 330-376-7171, http://thetangier.com.

Smooth jazz saxophonist Meadows is pretty popular around these parts and is a frequent visitor to Tangier.

3) Actors’ Summit: Will Rogers’ America, 8 tonight-Oct. 28, Greystone Hall, 103 S. High St., Akron, $19-$30, 330-374-7568.

The old cowboy trick roper and humorist, journalist, social commentator and film star’s homespun, plainspoken “lectures” about the news of the day (“the day” being the 1920s through the early ’30s) were must-listens for a generation.

4) Verb Ballet presents Carmen, 8 p.m. Saturday, Akron Civic Theatre, 182 S. Main St., $25, 330-253-2488.

This ballet, “Carmen: Story of Passion,” is a new version of the classic 19th century opera and will be presented in cabaret staging, placing the audience on the stage where they will be sprayed by and smell the passion emanating from the dancers.

5) The Fresh Beat Band, 1 and 5:30 p.m. Saturday, State Theatre at Playhouse Square, 1501 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, $10-$39.50, 216-241-6000, 866-546-1353.

Hey, would you like to be in a room with a couple of thousand screaming and singing (and crying and touching things with their snot-covered, dirty little hands) preschoolers as they learn “about music appreciation and how to express their feelings through movement, song and instrumental music?” You would? Then these shows featuring Nickelodeon’s popular TV stars Kiki, Shout, Marina and Twist, aka the Fresh Beat Band, are for you.

Read Soundcheck, the blog by Malcolm X Abram.

Kudos to Mr. Dunn, a nice, talented, young man who has been working his way up the mewzik industry ladder the ol’ fashioned way..earning his bones by singing in front of live people as an opening act and recording music as opposed to blanketing YouTube with cover versions of other folks songs and hoping Ellen sees you…….Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Check out his lead single under the announcement

(October 9, 2012 – Cleveland, OH): With his Top 20 debut single “Can’t Forget” and the follow-up single/video “Miss My Love” currently residing at #15 on the Urban AC chart, singer/songwriter Antoine Dunn is swiftly proving to be the next great soul man with the release of his debut CD, TRUTH OF THE MATTER on October 16, 2012.

The 24-year-old Cleveland-born natural is that rare complete package of soul that seems to only come along about once in a decade.

On October 16, the music world will receive Dunn’s long awaited 12-song debut CD TRUTH OF THE MATTER – of unusually high quality and breadth on Elite Music Group, Inc. That’s due to the seasoned co-production of soul music veteran Edwin “Tony” Nicholas (Gerald Levert, Barry White) and Antoine’s own passion, styles and talents. The artist boldly states, “My ultimate goal is to take my music to a global level like Alicia Keys or John Mayer.”

Having just wrapped as the opening act of the “Back to Love” Tour with Anthony Hamilton and Estelle, Dunn was the epitome of dynamic and classy R&B singer, crooning with sincerity and power in a sharp white suit with hat to match and backed by a crack 4-piece band. Extending his gratitude, Dunn states, “After all the dedication and hard work, for someone like Anthony Hamilton to extend this opportunity to me twice is nothing short of amazing.”

The proof is in the impressively diverse grooves of all original songs such as the dreamy mid-tempo love song “Back to You,” the piano and live drum-driven “I Just Want to Say,” the sexy-sexy seduction number “Sweet Lady” and the heavy backbeat bye-bye song “It’s Over.” Antoine Dunn rolls from “Stand Tall,” a bluesy track about being fired from his job while his wife is headed to the hospital, to the album closing title track, “Truth of the Matter,” a strings-drenched apology ballad complete with violin solo and a BIG pop finish. This man’s gifts know no limits.

“I grew up on my parents’ record collection,” Dunn shares, “everything from Esther Philips to The Dramatics. I wrote my first songs in middle school when I started dating. My first song was titled ‘I’ll Be There.’ My older brother was studying to be an opera singer and had a Yamaha PSR keyboard. I’d sneak in his room to play it. I also had a Gateway computer with a 60-second recording feature. I’d make up little 1-minute songs and that’s how I also started producing.”

Dunn stated of the old school yet new school slant of his sound, “Just like people like ice cream, they should be willing to try new flavors. My music is fresh, yet familiar.” Citing all-around music greats Stevie Wonder and the late, great Donny Hathaway as his biggest influences, Antoine Dunn went on to be picked up as the opening act of Anthony Hamilton’s national “Back to Love Tour” (with Estelle) where he received glowing reviews, particularly for a warm up act.

A journalist from the Examiner.com wrote in her review of his opening set at Detroit’s legendary Fox Theatre, “Those that had made the wise decision to arrive early experienced a powerful show filled with passion, heart and profound musicianship. Antoine Dunn possessed a familiarity with the stage and the audience so often lost on newcomers.” On a blog, a fan writing under the handle MsSchelle87 beamed, “I am so in love with his sound. It reminds me of that old school soul. Wow – finally real music and a powerful voice along with it is back.”

The depth of that old school is also apparent in his heartfelt dedication of TRUTH OF THE MATTER to the memory of his mother who passed away last year after a battle with breast cancer. Antoine is releasing his album in October – Breast Cancer Awareness Month – in her loving honor.

Antoine Dunn is all about music’s power to bring people together. “Holistically, so much keeps us separated – sexual preferences, economics, neighborhoods. My goal is to help break down barriers. At a concert when everyone is vibing on the music, no one cares whether the person sitting next to them has the exact same beliefs that they do. As an artist, I want to do things that reveal me as unlimited in my creativity and with the purpose of unity.” 

You can find more information on Antoine Dunn at: Antoinedunn.com, facebook.com/antoinedunn,twitter.com/antoinedunn.

Read Soundcheck, the blog by Malcolm X Abram.

From the digital desks of the Akron Civic Theatre:

The Akron Civic Theatre will show Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live in Budapest ’86 on the big screen on Saturday, October 20, 2012 at 8:00pm. Following the movie will be an 80’s dance party on the stage.

Calling all Queen fans…Now’s your chance to watch Queen’s momentous concert movie, Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live In Budapest ’86 on the big screen for the first time. Remastered in high definition and 5.1 surround sound, this cinema event opens with a special 25 minute documentary feature following the legends of rock, Queen, from just after their show–stealing performance at Live Aid through the year leading up to the concert in Budapest. Staged for 80,000 ecstatic fans, the concert set includes favorite hits like Bohemian Rhapsody, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, I Want To Break Free and We Are The Champions. It’s a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the magic of Queen at the Akron Civic Theatre.

As part of the hugely successful 1986 Magic Tour that, poignantly, was the last to be played by Freddie Mercury, Queen was for the first time able to include Hungary on the tour schedule. With three years to go before the fall of the Berlin Wall, this was the largest concert ever staged at the Népstadion, Budapest, and the first Western Rock Concert performed in a stadium behind the then Iron Curtain. It was of such significance to the Hungarian authorities and film industry that a group of the country’s top film cameramen and technicians were brought together to film it for posterity.

The resulting concert movie has been digitally re-mastered for the big screen and is introduced by a documentary feature that gives the inside track on events leading up to the Budapest concert. Using archive footage from rehearsals, interviews with the band and on the road during the Magic Tour – some of which has never been seen before – this fascinating intro feature has been specially created for the cinema release. Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live in Budapest ‘86 is a must–see cinema event for Queen fans across the world.

Following the showing of the movie, the Akron Civic Theatre stage will be turned into an 80’s dance party with a live DJ spinning all of your favorite 80’s tunes. What: Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live in Budapest ‘86 When: 8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 20 Where: The Akron Civic Theatre, 182 S. Main St. Tickets: $$14.50. Information: (330) 253-2488 www.akroncivic.com, or TicketMaster (1-800-745-3000

By CHRIS TALBOTT
AP Music Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn.: Kim Williams hesitated only slightly when asked who he thinks has been the best interpreter of his songs before the start of the Nasvhille Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

“That’s tough, but I’d say it would have to be Garth Brooks because I wrote them with him,” Williams said. “He was part of the songs, too, before he sang them. We had so much fun writing together.”

Kim Williams, from left, Tony Arata, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Larry Henley pose with their trophies after being inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame on Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

They had a load of fun together Sunday night, too.

Brooks and his wife Trisha Yearwood were on hand to help celebrate this year’s inductees — Williams, Tony Arata, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Larry Henley. Brooks saluted Williams and Arata, while Yearwood paid tribute to Carpenter and Henley, the writer of the enduring hit “The Wind Beneath My Wings.”

“Over 200 artists have recorded ‘The Wind Beneath My Wings,’ so it’s kind of how do you do a new twist?” Yearwood said before the ceremony. “And with Chapin, I’ve just known her a long, long time, so it was a no-brainer when she asked me. It’s the Garth and Trisha show and we’re just going to have a good time.”

Brooks sang “New Way To Fly,” “Papa Loved Mama” and “Three Wooden Crosses” to Williams during a moving and hilarious induction speech, then sang Arata’s “The Dance.” The appearance comes a year after Brooks’ own induction.

“I cried the whole time and I’m going to cry all night tonight, too, but now it’s for one of your brothers,” Brooks said. “I think I’m more excited for Kim and Tony going in. For me it’s long overdue. I was thinking about Kent Blazy, and I wonder where his face is. I think it’s only a matter of time for him, too. These are the guys I grew up with. They moved here at the same time and we’re all brothers.”

Marc Cohn also helped pay tribute to Carpenter, who noted she’s just the 14th female inductee among 188 hall of fame members.

“And that feels like an honor in and of itself,” Carpenter said beforehand. “I know that I stand on a lot of shoulders just to get to this place. I’m just so happy.”

The Nashville Songwriters Association International also gave out its yearly songwriting awards. Taylor Swift won the songwriter/artist of the year award for the fifth time in six years and remains at 22 that award’s youngest winner. Dallas Davidson was named songwriter of the year. And Dolly Parton’s enduring hit “I Will Always Love You,” which reached No. 1 again this year after Whitney Houston’s death, was named song of the year.

By Malcolm X Abram
Beacon Journal pop music writer

So Halloween is just around the corner and it seems that our culture’s current favorite boogiemen are zombies.

Most of the classic scary monsters such as vampires, werewolves and even mummies have been sexed up via Hollywood. Nowadays, our bloodsuckers tend to be brooding, thin and misunderstood (are there any fat, jolly vampires?), as in the Twilight films, or leather-clad, complicated badasses with their own problems, as in the Underworld series of films.

But zombies … yikes!

The Walking Dead – Season 3, Episode 1 – (Gene Page/AMC)

Zombies aren’t sexy, complicated or brooding, they have no internal struggle or need for restraint (“I love you more than anything, but your jugular sure looks tasty”), and they sure aren’t hard to understand. They can’t be reasoned with or controlled; they are insatiable and relentless in their pursuit of “braaaains!” or “flesshh!”

They simply hunger.

Back in ancient times (you know, black-and-white movies) zombies were often the lumbering minions of some dark magic. They were raised from the dead by vengeful voodoo priests or Bela Lugosi-era vampires who controlled them. Sure, that’s pretty scary, but they were often presented as reluctant employees who did their master’s bidding slowly and without thought, like teenagers working a late Friday shift at a McDonald’s.

But somewhere along the way, Hollywood realized that raising the dead through phantasmagorical means wasn’t nearly as scary as taking our species’ very real and inexorable drive for scientific discovery, new technology and control of our environment, and turning it against us. In most contemporary interpretations, if a catalyst is identified, zombies are now man-made. They come as a result of our hubris, our belief that since we sit at the top of the food chain (God created the entire universe just for us, didn’t he?), everything is under our dominion and we can always control what we create.

There are no more bug-eyed, babbling witch doctors in grass skirts or mysterious glowing moon rocks falling out of the sky that jump-start the disease. Now it’s viruses spreading quickly and uncontrollably, created by scientists to hurt or heal. Our modern-day zombie isn’t the reanimated corpse of your decade-long-dead grandma in her burial dress, aimlessly wandering around with her arms stuck straight out (why would they do that?). It is your spouse, your child, your friend or neighbor, who was alive and well moments or hours before, and is now desperate to rip you apart at the seams.

I think that’s why zombie-related films, books and other forms of entertainment have become so popular in the last several years. Seeing an actual zombie on your street may seem far-fetched. But the underlying concept that we will create and perhaps even be the instrument of our own doom? Not so much.

At the beginning of the 2002 film 28 Days Later — arguably the jump-off for the new zombie craze in pop culture — animal activists break into a medical research facility to free some chimpanzees that are, unbeknownst to them, infected with the scientifically produced “Rage” virus. They wind up unleashing it on London. I’m sure I wasn’t the only moviegoer who thought, “Oh, yeah, that could happen.”

To quote the wise and possibly prescient words of the T-800 Terminator in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, another film where man’s technological creation and hubris leads to his destruction (please use your best Ah-nold Schwarzenegger accent): “It is in your nature to destroy yourselves.”

Zombies are so popular that last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention smelled the zeitgeist and created a blog post about preparing for the Zombiepocalypse (that word will be in the dictionary soon). Sure, the post was really about emergency preparation, but 30 years ago that same post would have been about nuclear apocalypse, which, since the end of the Cold War, seems a lot less frightening.

Shows such as The Walking Dead don’t bother with the origin (although it’s still viral), just the aftermath. It’s the new “post-apocalyptic” world but the end result is the same. Stripped of our material things, our laws, our society and (relative) civility, we are forced to survive like the animals over which we feel so comfortably dominant, and ultimately we become as dangerous and predatory toward each other as the mindless, hungry zombies we created.

Umm, happy Halloween?

Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758. Read his blog, Sound Check Online, at www.ohio.com/blogs/sound-check, or follow him on Twitter @malcolmxabram.

Read Soundcheck, the blog by Malcolm X Abram.

By Malcolm X Abram
Beacon Journal pop music writer

Well, whadda ya know.

The list of 15 nominees for the 2013 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has some old (repeatedly denied) friends and some new (long overdue) faces, although it continues to ignore the 800-pound gorilla in the room in kabuki makeup and spiked platform heels, wielding a Love Gun.

Donna Summer performs at the conclusion of the Nobel Peace concert in Oslo, Norway in this Dec 11, 2009 file photo. Summer is nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. (AP Photo/John McConnico)

It should be quite clear to anyone still paying attention that members of the mysterious body of nominators and 600 voters of the Rock Hall Foundation have biases against certain bands and entire genres. Kiss, eligible since 1999, has once again been denied the “honor” of being nominated, and the band’s continued exclusion is starting to take on the feel of some kind of weird running gag.

It’s also clear that the Cleveland hall’s definition of “rock ’n’ roll” will continue to expand, as foundation CEO and president Joel Peresman reminds us every year. “The definition of ‘rock and roll’ means different things to different people, but as broad as the classifications may be, they all share a common love of the music,” Peresman said in his annual “we’re eclectic now, get used to it,” quote accompanying the announcement. “This year we again proudly put forth a fantastic array of groups and artists that span the entire genre that is ‘rock and roll.’ ”

OK, “rock” and “pop” have long been intertwined, but the hall’s definition also gives nominators/voters options that allow them to continue to skirt, skip and sidestep some artists that many rock fans consider obvious choices.

Interestingly, the rock hall is allowing fans to have a say on this year’s inductees. The top five artists voted on by fans at http://rockhall.com/vote will make up a “fans’ ballot” that will be tallied along with the 600 ballots from Rock Hall Foundation voters.

The returnees are Heart, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Randy Newman, Kraftwerk, Donna Summer and Chic. The first-timers are bluesman Albert King, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Public Enemy, N.W.A., the Marvelettes, the Meters, Deep Purple and Rush. The list of inductees is usually announced in December. The April 18 induction ceremony will be held in Los Angeles for the first time since 1993 and will be broadcast later on HBO.

Relative surprises on the list are the way overdue Deep Purple and Rush, two influential, still-popular bands that have been eligible and deserving since the ’90s (artists become eligible 25 years after their first release), but have been summarily ignored for no apparent reason other than some voter or pocket of voters simply doesn’t like them.

Smoke on the water

Deep Purple, one of the acknowledged progenitors of heavy metal, has been eligible since 1993. The classic lineup (guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, singer Ian Gillan, bassist Roger Glover, the late organist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice) recorded seminal and popular hard rock albums such as Machine Head and the live Made in Japan, influencing a generation of future metalheads and guitarists whose first-learned riff was Smoke on the Water.

While their run as hit makers was relatively brief, their influence is undeniable, and they are still working today — Gillan, Glover, Paice, ex-Dixie Dregs/Kansas guitarist Steve Morse and ex-Ozzy Osbourne/Whitesnake keyboardist Don Airey are currently recording an album.

For many rock fans (including some who don’t like their music), the exclusion of Canadian prog-rock trio Rush, eligible since 1999, is one of the obvious slights that lifts the curtain on the hall’s voting body to reveal the apparently bitter little person pulling the strings and levers.

Even during its early ’80s pop heyday, when rock listeners were memorizing uber-drummer Neil Peart’s syncopated machine-gun flams and fills on Tom Sawyer, it has been an outsider band. For much of its 40-plus-year career, Rush was maligned by the rock cognoscenti as musically fussy, lyrically unpoetic and just plain uncool. But in the past decade or so, the group seems to have earned respect and elder-statesmen status, while its legions of dedicated fans, who aren’t all 45-year-old, air-drum-playing dudes, still fill arenas.

But now that the hall has deigned to acknowledge both bands’ existences, importance and influence, if neither is inducted in the 2013 class, the foundation’s credibility with rock fans will continue to erode.

Handicapping who will actually get inducted is a tricky business, because logic doesn’t always seem to play its, um, logical part. Breaking the 15 nominees down by genre or gender (which probably matters more than it should), few rock fans would argue that Heart (eligible since 2000) should be welcomed before Joan Jett (eligible since 2005), or that Texas singer/guitarist Albert King (eligible since 1987) should have been inducted with one of those fantastic early classes that were filled with rock ’n’ roll pioneers, seminal blues and soul men and women, and the classic rockers they inspired.

As beloved as Randy Newman is within the industry and by other artists, he would seem to be perfect for the respected singer/songwriter spot that Tom Waits took in 2011, and is probably a lock for induction.

The chances of two hip-hop acts getting in the same year seem highly unlikely, and both N.W.A. and Public Enemy were popular, controversial and influential crossover artists. But since there can (probably) be only one, Chuck D has participated in past ceremonies and Public Enemy would likely be considered the more respectable choice.

Queen of disco

Donna Summer died in May at 63, which will likely help her sixth nomination become the charm, as it appeared to help Frank Zappa, who died in late 1993 and was inducted in 1995.

German electronica pioneers Kraftwerk would never be mistaken for traditional rock, but have been hugely influential on a variety of genres, including pop, the many strains of dance music, and hip-hop. The thumping electro grooves and Midi-driven blips and bleeps the group pioneered have become common in today’s mechanized pop music, even if Justin Bieber and his fans have never heard of the stoic, Teutonic quartet.

The Marvelettes have a good chance, because rock hall voters still have a special place in their collective hearts (and the hall) for the girl/guy groups from the ’50s and ’60s and the group had a good run of singles that include Please Mr. Postman, Beechwood 4-5789 and Don’t Mess With Bill. Besides, you can’t go wrong with Motown, can you?

Other nominees

Several of the other nominees, including the Paul Butterfield Blues Band (featuring the late and revered guitarist Mike Bloomfield), Procol Harum (known by most for the ballad Whiter Shade of Pale) and 1970s New Orleans R&B/funk kings the Meters, along with cosmopolitan R&B/disco group Chic, a seven-time nominee, would seem to be destined to become nomination list returnees, at least for a few more years.

And of course, there are always the cries of “what about Artist X?” That list doesn’t seem to be getting much shorter, and the scope widens as the eligible nominees move on into the late ’80s: The Moody Blues, Roxy Music, T-Rex, the Doobie Brothers, Captain Beefheart. Oh, and how about Iron Maiden, Hall and Oates, the MC5, Motorhead, the Carpenters, Judas Priest, Journey, Dire Straits. And hey, how about some punk and new wave, such as Black Flag, Devo, X, the Jam, the Cure …

Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758. Read his blog, Sound Check Online, at www.ohio.com/blogs/sound-check, or follow him on Twitter @malcolmxabram.

Read Soundcheck, the blog by Malcolm X Abram.

By Malcolm X Abram
Beacon Journal pop music writer

Downtown Akron has come quite a ways in the past decade.

In 2002 after 7 p.m. on any given night, South Main Street was a ghost town where only Canal Park and a few defiant bars and restaurants were trying to survive.

Despite the lack of nighttime activity, the main drag developed a reputation as a dangerous place to be after dark.

Bar hoppers are blurred as they run across South Main Street at West Exchange Street in Akron, Ohio. (Karen Schiely /Akron Beacon Journal)

Ten years later, Akron’s South Main drag is alive and growing with the help of downtown student housing at 22 Exchange St. and 401 Lofts — apartments under construction at Cedar and Exchange streets. The area’s “nighttime economy” could soon see a healthy boost that might help ease the “brain drain” suffered by so many similar-sized cities as well as attract more businesses and patrons of all ages downtown.

“I think we’ve got something for everybody” Suzie Graham, president and CEO of Downtown Akron Partnership, said. “We run the gamut, going all the way from the southern most side of Main Street all the way to the North side. We’ve got a number of different offerings for audiences in downtown.”

The Partnership started in 1995, and its mission is to “promote and build a vibrant and valuable downtown.”

With the area’s continued growth plus the potential for an influx of bodies with discretionary income, most of the downtown bar/club/restaurant owners are holding quarterly meetings with Downtown Akron Partnership. The meetings have included local police, representatives of the University of Akron and an outside consultant trying to find ways to hype Main Street and to help UA students and others think of downtown Akron when it’s time to party.

“22 Exchange certainly boosted the 18-25 age range,” Graham said, adding that 401 Lofts is being marketed toward young professionals who are over 25. “We call them urban pioneers, the people who want to come into the area and really love the feel of metropolitan living.” Currently Main Street, from Cedar and Exchange all the way up to Furnace Street, has pockets of nighttime activity. Going north up Main, the Cedar-Exchange area features several bars that are very popular with college-aged students such as the huge dance club LUX, 69 Taps and the Lounge.

But there is also Zar, which is angling for the young professional crowd and places like the gay bar and downtown staple Tear-EZ and bar/restaurants Paolo’s and Bricco, which also cater to older crowds.

Also see: Akron nightlife resurrected: Here’s where to go

Even the street’s relative dead space near Canal Park has come alive with the Karma Kafe hookah bar, the Wing Warehouse and Primo’s Deli and Club, all of which draw college-aged students.

And then there are the Lock 3/Akron Civic Theatre-area bars around West State and Main, aka the Lock Block, such as Barley House — a restaurant that becomes an ersatz dance club on weekends — along with the Lockview and the recently opened Baxter’s Bar.

Further up Main at East Market Street are higher-end eateries such as 3 Point and Crave and the Sky Lounge nightclub and Musica, downtown’s only dedicated live music venue.

Further north, there are longtime clubs the Interbelt and Northside, along with the newer Dante Boccuzzi Akron and late-night favorite Luigi’s restaurant.

At the Barley House, Mike Pickett said in the three years he’s been general manager, he has noticed a positive change in downtown’s reputation and the general atmosphere around his bar at night.

“I think it’s getting a lot better than the [space’s troubled previous occupant] Harry Buffalo’s days, but I think it’s still in the back of some people’s minds ‘Oh, don’t go to downtown Akron,’ but it’s really not bad. … There is always going to be some trouble around bars,” he said.

But as the area grows, there are still challenges.

Many downtown bar and club owners feel the area won’t reach its full potential until it becomes a destination spot — a place that people from surrounding towns want to come to and hang out for the entire night — rather than eat dinner, see a show at the Civic or catch a baseball game and then go back home or to other areas such as Merriman Valley, downtown Kent or even Cleveland.

Jason Edge is general manager of LUX, the multimillion dollar dance club that rules the 18-25 crowd who pack the club on Thursday and Saturday nights. Edge said the economic downturn has played a part in stunting the area’s growth, but he and several of the other owners and managers believe the city needs to focus more on branding the downtown area as a safe, clean, fun place to hang out.

Edge said the problem is the city does not market the area enough.

“This is beautiful down here and there’s no trouble, no shootings. Are there fights? Of course. There’ll be fights anywhere you go. But people don’t need to fear that, there’s no reason to,” he said.

Edge said he believes that focused branding, similar to what Cleveland has tried to do for the Flats and other downtown areas, would help keep Main Street Akron on the minds of potential customers.

“We have places around here that people can go … There are people that live in Medina, Wadsworth, Brunswick, even Strongsville who will drive 30 or 40 minutes north to go party in Cleveland but won’t drive 20 minutes to come to downtown Akron and it freakin’ blows my mind,” he said.

Malcolm X Abram can be reached at 330-996-3758 or by email at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com. He’s also on Facebook as Malcolm X Abram.

Read Soundcheck, the blog by Malcolm X Abram.