BCE Blogs: BC Rocks

Interview with Deletery

Just returned from and interview with Mattawan-based Deletery. You can listen to the interview below.

CAUTION: I believe the musicians used a few expletives here and there.

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Interview with Deletery:

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In today's WOW, other news

In today's WOW, you will find:

• This story on Midwest Hype.

• This ROCK COLUMN: "After the Sound," a poem

• This week's Top 5:Top 5 lyrics

5. “I thought you were dinner, but you were the shark,” from The Rolling Stones’ “Stealing My Heart”

4. “I’ll make it to the moon if I have to crawl,” from The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Scar Tissue”

3. “I know it’s unlikely she’ll ever be mine, so I mostly just pray she don’t die,” from The Hold Steady’s “Lord, I’m Discouraged”

2. “I took it like a grown man, crying on the pavement, hoping you would show your face,” from Manchester Orchestra’s “I Can Feel a Hot One”

1. “I will never be sane, I will always be weird inside, I will always be lame,” from Everclear’s “Father of Mine”

• Click here for a list of announced Michigan concerts

• Click here for a list of local nightlife events happening this weekend

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IN OTHER LOCAL MUSIC NEWS ...

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• Dani Jamerson, of Athens, is the new "Michigan Idol," beating out several others in the JD's Country Connection contest for a free two-night stay at a Holiday Inn in a city where "American Idol" tryouts happen next year. She'll also get a chance to perform at several other local charity events, etc.

The finale happened last Friday, but illness and a slew of busy assignments kept me from reporting this earlier. More on it later.

In Thursday's WOW, Beth Neilsen Chapman concert canceled

In Thursday's WOW, you will find:

• This story on Tantric. 

• This ROCK COLUMN: Remembering 'The Blues Bros.

Also, there was a Food Bank benefit concert scheduled for May30, featuring Beth Neilsen Chapman. However, Chapman's undergone surgery and had some complications following, so the concert has been canceled. Here's the release from the Food Bank.

Beth Nielsen Chapman Concert Cancelled

 
The upcoming Beth Nielsen Chapman concert, originally scheduled for May 30 in Battle Creek has been cancelled, due to complications experienced with the recovery of Beth from recent surgery. The concert was to be a benefit for the Food Bank of South Central Michigan.

In a statement, Beth noted: “It is with great disappointment that I have to reschedule my May 30 Concert for the Food Bank.  I've recently come through a successful brain surgery for the removal of a benign tumor.  I'm doing well and have a great prognosis.   According to my doctor  I have to be careful to allow for enough time to get my full speed back.  The May 30 date is right on the line of that. I could be fine...but can't guarantee it.  I don't want to take the risk of not being my best or putting the concert at risk of being cancelled at the last minute.

Every concert I've done in Battle Creek has been so much fun and full throttle.  I wouldn't want to do it any other way.  So I ask the great fans and friends in Battle Creek to excuse me this once and I promise a most celebratory show as soon as my health allows and it can be rescheduled.”

"While we're sorry to have to cancel what would have been a wonderful concert, we're primarily concerned about Beth's health," said Bob Randels, Food Bank executive director. All of Beth's Battle Creek concerts have had Food Bank tie-ins, including food collections among concert goers as well as corporate sponsorships.
 
Randels explained that possible dates for rescheduling the concert are being discussed and will be made available just as soon as they are finalized.
 
The Food Bank will be contacting concert partners as well as individuals who have purchased tickets to the show. In the meantime, ticket holders having specific preferences as to crediting their ticket purchase may call the Food Bank.  "We're grateful for the excellent support received among the concert partners," said Randels.
 
The Food Bank of South Central Michigan is a United Way program delivery partner as well as a member of Feeding America (formerly America's Second Harvest) and the Food Bank Council of Michigan.

A note from a 'Michigan Idol' contestant

Got this e-mail yesterday from Dani Jamerson, one of two remaining contestants in the "Michigan Idol" karaoke contest at JD's Country Connection in Tekonsha:

Hi. :)
First of all, I want to thank everyone for voting for the last...10 weeks. It's really meant alot to me. This competition has been so long and drawn out, and because of that, I feel like the voting may have decreased. It's the last week, and the votes I get this week determine the winner. So please, keep voting. I know it's kind of a pain, but there's only one more week of this. Going into this competition, I had two goals; I obviously wanted to win, but what I really wanted to take from this was the experience. And I feel like I've got that. Now, the only thing thats left is the winning part. So, please keep voting. Thank you!
 
-Dani.

Click here for more information and links to vote on the two remaining singers.

Last week to vote for your 'Michigan Idol'

And there were two.

It's the final week for the "Michigan Idol" karaoke contest at JD's Country Connection in Tekonsha. Click on the names below to watch videos of the singers and vote for your favorite. (You'll need a free MySpace account).

The winner gets 2 nights at a Holiday Inn in or near the city where an "American Idol" 2010 tryout happens.

You can also go to JD's at 7 p.m. on Friday to watch the drama unfold. It's expected to be busy, so show up early.

Mike Butterworth

Dani Jamerson

More on 'Music as a Weapon'

Below is a preview of a column I'm writing for Sunday about Thursday's "Music as a Weapon" tour stop in downtown Battle Creek. Also, click here to read my story which ran today about the event. Click here to read my preview story, which included an interview with Disturbed frontman David Draiman. Click here to see a photo gallery of the event.

Ask any music junkie what the best part of a concert is, and he or she will say the music. Ask any concert junkie — and yes, there is a difference — and he or she will say quite quickly, "The people."

So was the contention of Adam Cuellar, Justin Donnellt, Matthew Hamlin, Kyle Velting and Kaci Swope, a group of 15- to 20-year-olds who drove up from Coldwater for Thursday's "Music as a Weapon" tour stop downtown Battle Creek.

So was the feeling of 18-year-olds Ben Cassidy and Kara Campbell, of Grand Rapids and Fremont, respectively.

I am a music junkie first and foremost, but the journalist in me, and the Battle Creek native in me, was happy to see the many bodies braving bad weather Thursday for Disturbed, Killswitch Engage, Chimaira, Lacuna Coil and a dozen mid-level acts on the side stage.

Kids were everywhere you looked, all afternoon, even during the downpours, walking across Hamblin Avenue from the side stage set up in the Full Blast parking lot and the tattoo artists at McCamly Place.

And as I drove down Michigan Avenue, I saw them dipping inside Griffin Grill & Pub, Schlotzky's Deli, Brownstone Coffeehouse. Money spent downtown is money welcome.

It was a happy feeling to see these people — most of them young, most of them donning heavy metal T-shirts and baggy jeans or that skinny-jean, horizontal stripes emo look — out in the open for all the downtown business types to see. I was happy to see mosh pits under a Battle Creek sky, no matter how bleak it happened to be.

You see, this is the first hard rock festival to happen outside in Battle Creek in my recent memory.

Normally these types of kids are forced into the dark corner bars and skater venues where they've learned to be happy. Out of sight, all the straight-suited adults and kids of a cleaner nature conjure up unlearned fantasies about what happens inside those places.

But a music festival such as Thursday's, with mid-level acts playing on the side stage ahead of the main players inside Kellogg Arena, that kind of happening is an open-faced celebration of everything our crooked, hidden avenue venues have to offer.

That's what the local music scene needs, and that kind of art and culture and entertainment spending can only help Battle Creek. At least, it can't hurt.