File: October 2007
Riot, Act III
The cuddly, spikes-n-leather gathering we lovingly refer to as Riot Fest marks its tertiary performance in November at Congress Theatre. And just when you thought it couldn’t get anymore, um, riotous, here come some classic and righteous additions.
First, there’s this revived idea of a second day, so Riot Fest 2007 will run November 17th and 18th. Naked Raygun look set to defend their headlining title from last fall, but have some rigid competition with the U.K.’s highly influential Stiff Little Fingers in direct support and an art-damaged, left-field SST band called Bad Brains headlining the second night. Aging punk pandemonium continues with The Casualties, Dillinger Four, 7 Seconds, Nekromantix, The Queers, 88 Fingers Louie spawn Zero To Sixty, The Methadones, and more. For the full outlay, visit riotfest.org, where you can learn about cheap ticket blocks and info on preordering Raygun’s latest offering, What Poor Gods We Do Make. Proceeds from the show will benefit Government Issue vocalist John Stabb (assaulted in July) and the disabled son of producer/ex-Jawbox frontman J. Robbins.
— Steve Forstneger
Six Strings To Sunday
When curator and artistic director David Spelman brought the first Wall To Wall Guitar Festival to Champaign-Urbana’s Krannert Center For The Performing Arts in 2005, it presented the guitar as an object worthy of Serious Study. Over-eager and under-confident, the first Wall To Wall Festival approached the guitar with a reverence that buried its most enduring, endearing trait: It’s fun as hell.
What a difference two years makes.
This time around, Wall To Wall was everything the guitar is: cocky, sophisticated, roguish, beautiful, loud, quiet, rebellious, respectful, silly, brainy, enticing, intricate, revelatory, passionate. Ambitious and exciting, Wall To Wall Take Two was a festival hitting its stride and having a great time doing so.
As before, there were more than 30 artists spanning September 13th to 15th. This time, the Festival and (more importantly) the audiences couldn’t have been better served than they were by Los Lobos (below), Buddy Guy, The Campbell Brothers, Cindy Cashdollar, Dan Zanes, The Romeros, The Delta Kings, Sonny Landreth, Natalia Zukerman, Shawn Colvin, and Goran Ivanovic and Fareed Haque. Yet they were just some of the stunning performances, which ranged from merely good to the sublime.
Two festivals into it, Wall To Wall — already in New York City and other countries — should be a national draw. Between the acoustics at Krannert Center, which are among the best in the country, and the artistic visions of both Spelman and Krannert director Mike Ross — visions that are as inclusive of art as they are open to it — this was a Guitar Festival that promised a lot and then delivered even more. (For the complete review, visit www.illinoisentertainer.com.)
— M.S. Dodds
Of All The Dumb Ideas
Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine is no stranger to adversity, as most of it is self-inflicted. With a line of enemies stretching around the block, even the most ardent born-againer doesn’t post his phone number online (ask Bush!). But that’s what he, and his “bandmates,” have done. Dubbing it “Mega Calls,” Mustaine invites fans to dial (619) 717-2000 and leave him a message. Once Dave has your number, he’ll add it to a master list and maybe call you. Probably not. You’ll likely never hear a live voice, but you will get tour-update voicemails.
— Steve Forstneger
