The Black Keys will be playing a Christmas show at the Akron Civic Theatre on Saturday, December 22.
The West Akron bred duo doesn't play in their own backyard very often and when they have in the past it's usually been at the Lime Spider, a much smaller (and now defunct) venue than the Civic.

Tickets are $25.00 in advance, $28.00 Day of Show (I suggest not waiting until the "day of show" as you may find yourself waiting outside….by yourself.)

Presale tickets for the concert will go on sale at the band's web site, theblackkeys.com 11 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public at 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 26 all ticketmaster locations. There will also be a limited number of tickets at at Square Records in Akron and at Music Saves in Cleveland.

In addition to the few days headstart you get on the general public, the band's web site (through an Alabama based system called ticketbiscuit.com ) charges a considerably smaller "convenience fee" ($2.75) in comparison to Ticketmaster (about $8).

The Civic Theatre box office doesn't consider itself "convenient" and therefore charges no extra fee.

Please, feel free to do the math.

Sorry fans,

But singer/songwriter (and daughter of a legend), Rosanne Cash has had to cancel her November 10th appearance at the Kent State Folk Festival, due to health issues festival officials announced today.

That's a bummer, because Cash has been riding the critical success of her most recent album Black Cadillac which was largely written during an intense period of mourning for her as she lost her famous father and stepmother Johnny and June Carter Cash in 2003 and her mother Vivian Liberto Cash Distin in 2005.

Patrons who purchased tickets in person should return to their place of purchase for a refund. Patrons who purchased tickets online or by phone will receive a refund on their credit card. For questions, contact Ticketmaster, at 330-945-9500 (Akron) or 216-241-5555 (Cleveland).

I forgot to mention this show in my column today (because I wrote the date wrong on my calendar, sorry) but this ought to be an interesting musical/visual experience for folks into such things.

This Saturday night at the Renaissance Performing Arts Center (138 Park Ave. West) in Mansfield, Cleveland jazz/rock/fusion instrumental band Rare Blend will be providing a live soundtrack to the 1925 silent film classic The Phantom of the Opera.

The versatile and technically impressive quartet has been honing their melange of musical genres and and improvisation for more than a decade and has released four albums, the most recent being 2006's Stops Along The Way.
Apparently, their Phantom soundtrack will be a mix of pieces specifically composed for the film and improvised sections.

This is the sort of think that can be a really cool and inventive blending of contemporary spontaneous musical creation and art from very different eras, It can also rather easily go horribly wrong and become a haphazard mess, particularly if the band isn't as musically savvy as they they are or gets to involved with their own noodling to support the visuals on screen.

This concert is part of a series that has also included Fritz Lang's still visually impressive Metropolis, the 1916 version of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, and the lesser known surreal, Italian action-adventure film Maciste In Hell from 1925.

Tickets for the show are $10.00 and $15.00 and can be purchased online or by calling The Renaissance Theatre at (412) 522-2726

OK, that was mean but after enduring (metaphorical) reams of righteously indignant and occasionally crazy emails regarding Mr. Aiken and his career trajectory, I'm gonna let that title stand.

Anyway, remember way back when Clay Aiken was really famous and one of the compliments (albeit a left-handed one in some cases) often paid to him by the media and regular people who were less than enthralled with his unique charms was that he had a perfect voice, singing style and stage presence for Broadway?

Well, that remark always seemed to incense the (then) legions of Claymates who went thru great pains to inform members of the media (and I'm speaking from experience) that they were obviously unhappy, sick people with axes to grind against this wholesome all-American, golden-voiced, fully heterosexual young man and how DARE they suggest that Aiken was only talented enough for Broadway.

The fact that thousands of very talented people spend their lives dreaming about and working towards getting to sing and/or dance on a Broadway stage notwithstanding. Somehow Broadway was simply not good enough for their boy Clay who was going to "change the music industry."
(apparently some fans thought he was going to join Radiohead)

So guess what Clay Aiken is doing now?

He's joined the cast of Spamalot on BROADWAY as Sir Robin starting on January 8 through May 8. Additionally, director Mike Nichols has paid him the following decidedly right-handed compliment in an AP story announcing his new gig.

"Clay Aiken is amazing beyond that glorious voice," Nichols said. "Turns out he is an excellent comic actor and a master of character."

Well, good for Aiken.
He has arrived at the place where many said he would end up and could flourish and he's got a damn good head start in a big, already successful production.
Obviously, Clive Davis/RCA no longer give a crap about trying to make him a pop star evidenced by the Thousand Ways contract-filling album of covers from a year ago that was reportedly thrust upon young Mr. Aiken

Also, I'd bet that at this point the only people who still care about his sexual orientation are the fans unable to deal with the possibility of him actually being a wholesome all-American, golden-voiced gay man you can take home to your grandmother.

Well, the folks on The Great White Way certainly don't care which way he swings. And if Nichols is right and Aiken gives good character he is still recognizable enough to be first in the casting lines for the musical productions of Saw:The Musical or Ghandi II: Resurrection or Sanford & Son Goes Hawaiian or Harry Potter & the Warlock's Magic Jazz Hands all of which are surely coming as writers continue to look to recent pop culture for ideas.

Break a leg, kid.

Holy crap the fall concert schedule just keeps getting better.

On Friday, December 14th, at Quicken Loans Arena the incomparable BARRY MANILOW will perform for one night only! Manilow has been riding a successful series of albums dubbed Barry Manilow Sings the Greatest Song of the…with set dedicated to the 50's, 60's and 70's.

And, of course you will see Manilow perform his own greatest hits (I'll assume) including this one.

Tickets are $39 to $149 and go onsale Monday October 15

P.S. - Obviously I'm being a bit of a smartass with the clip but each of Manilow's three "Greatest Songs of the" series has sold platinum, so his continued popularity isn't in question.
Additionally, the last time Manilow was in Cleveland in 2004, he donated more than $10,000 to local charities and he's apparently teaming up with the same folks to do it again, so I ain't hatin' on Barry Manilow.

Besides when I was a kid I watched his HBO concert special numerous times and dang it if he ain't quite the showman.

Tickets for the Novermber 6 performance of Stevie Wonder will go on sale at 10 a.m., Friday, Oct. 12.

So on Tuesday Radiohead will release their new album IN RAINBOWS.
What? You say you didn't know?
You hadn't seen any obnoxious displays in your local Best Buy or Walmart heralding the recorded return of the artsy Brit Band that sells a ton of records and sells out concert tours?

Well, neither did the record industry and the aren't particularly happy about what the band is doing.

Go to Radiohead.com and you will see a link to purchase the new album IN RAINBOWS which comes in two versions. The basic no frills download and the souped up Disc Box version featuring the album on CD and Double Vinyl with an extra enhanced CD of new songs and digital artwork, lyrics and the whole shebang.

Here's the fun part.
The Disc Box version runs at 40 pounds or around $80 and the download version is included, so hardcore fans don't have to wait until December when the boxes.

The download only version costs…..whatever you want to pay.

No seriously, Radiohead has no record company (their deal with Capitol ended with their last album, Hail To The Theif) and they are in the unique position of having a dedicated and large fan base that appreciates their semi anti-corporate stance and are more likely than say….the average Pussycat Dolls fan to pony up some money when given the opportunity to enjoy/support their favorite band's new magnum opus.

So, Radiohead is offering the album, DRM-Free at your own price point.
Pay the minimum of 1 British pence or as much as you want and on Wednesday, October 10 the album is yours.

The band says that sometime early next year they'll likely pick a record company to release a hard copy of the album. But you have to figure that most of the major labels, while surely fascinated and frightened by the possibilities of bands completely cutting them out of the distribution and promotion process, also have to be asking themselves "why bother, packaging and distributing the album when you've already given it away?"

What's it sound like?
Hell if I know.
There are no singles and no publication is going to have a pre-release review because the band sent out no advanced review copies, or preview streams for media.

Instead they sent out an email stating that there would be no advance review copies or preview streams for media.

Fans, critics and haters all get the music at the same time.

The music bizness is changing and it's possible that the "bizness" may have to start taking orders from the "music" to survive instead of the way it has been.

Radiohead is trying to move that process along.

This oughta be a good one.
LIVENATION announced yesterday that the one and only STEVIE WONDER will be bringing his Wonder Summer Nights, his first in a decade to Quickens Loans Arena on Tuesday, November 6.
Tickets go on sale Monday October 8 and will be $49.50, $69.50 (to whom is that extra .50 going?) and an even $95. There are also a "limited number" of $200 "Gold Circle Seats" which, unless they seat me right next to Stevie's keyboard and I get to play a few chords every now and then throughout the show are simply to damned expensive.
I've never seen Stevie Wonder live but I do have a fantastic bootleg of his 1973 Wonderlove band playing the Rainbow in the U.K. featuring Maniac singer/songwriter/guitarist Michael Sembello drummer Ollie Brown and bassist Reginald McBride and the backup singers
Reportedly it was recorded for possible release but Stevie was unhappy with the quality of the soundboard recordings.
It's a shame that Stevie's Golden Period roughly 1972' Music In My Mind to 1980's Hotter Than July though many folks would exclude the 1979 "soundtrack" Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants
It's a loose at times seemingly freeform funked up jam session that begins with a 17 minute take on the instrumental Contusion (from Songs In The Key Of Life which had yet to be released).
It's the kind of R&B show that sadly could've only happened in the 1970's. I can't think off the top of my head of any contemporary artist that would begin their show that way except maybe D'Angelo, but he only makes a record a decade.

Anyway, I recall a cousin of mine going to see Stevie sometime in the 80s and he said it was fine but the band was bloated with a big horn section (good), a phalanx of backup singers (not bad unless their obnoxious) and three keyboardists/synth players in addition to himself (way baaaad).

Hopefully, Stevie will keep his band fairly simple like the 2005 special he recorded for the BBC featuring a fairly lean seven piece band with three singers.
But its been a decade since he toured the states so he may decide to go BIG.
Either way, I'm there.
How 'bout you?