Tara Scheyer (Mudpuppy Band) will be pulling Snapdragon out of the closet for a special show on September 11th at Sky City benefiting Leukemia and Lymphoma research.  Fans can expect a whole ton of the fun bubble gummy goodness that made Snapdragon such a treat.  Make sure and yell “Farrah Fawcett” as loud as you can!

On September 18th People Who Must return with a one-off performance at this year’s Arts in the Heart of Augusta festival.  With a slew of releases Joe Stevenson and crew have a bunch of material to pull choice tunes from.  You can bet Augusta fave “One Thousand Miles” will probably be among them.

For weeks the talk about Bleeding Counterfeit has centered around a final show and this past Friday night at Sky City the band possibly hinted as such by announcing onstage that the group would be taking a break of undetermined length.

The night will also feature a set by Augusta Americana faves Horsepower.

It now seems like ages ago since singer-songwriter Steven Jackson graced Augusta stages on a regular basis.  With a twisted style that merged old westerns and Norman Rockwell-esque imagery, Jackson’s performances has always made use of his pounding boot, eager vocals, and energetic playing to build a decent roadmap to take the listener on a journey.  The same care was taken over three CDs Jackson released since. (Two during his time in Augusta, one afterwards.)  Jackson has always been just as much storyteller as balladeer.  This has never shown to be as true as on his latest release “Before We Land”, this one under the moniker Brighter Things.” 

On ”Before We Land” Jackson has taken all the elements that made Augusta releases “Gathering Rust” (1999) and “Boxfan” (2001), as well as post Augusta release “Home from the Fight” (2004)  such great visual albums and added just that extra bit of modern flair to give it that extra omph. 

Songs like “Wide Awake” and “Not a Bird” show Jackson’s soft romantic side without coming off schmaltzy.  On the other end Jackson delivers on his romantic look of America with tunes such as “Bigger, Brighter” and “Florida.”  Along the way Jackson finds a way to set the scenes…somehow he manages to set scenes that anyone can make their own.  This is perhaps Jackson’s greatest quality.  The ability to stray from simplicity without losing the listener. 

Sure Jackson’s latest is also chock full of name musicians including Jeff Coffin (Dave Matthews Band), Eric Heywood (Ray LaMontagne), Sean Hurley (John Mayer band), Sam Kassirer (Josh Ritter), and Rob Seals but it is Jackson’s compositions that are the true stars of “Before We Land.”

http://www.stevenjackson.net

Included in this episodeL Recorded and live music by the band.

CONfederation of LOUDness is presented by Sector 7G – Augusta’s All-Ages Music Venue.

To check out this episode and more visit http://www.confederationofloudness.com

or listen below

In the weeks leading up to the metal bloodbath we here at BloodFest Central will be spilling more blood on the acts as well as a BloodFest first – the Bloodfest Battle of the Bands, which will take place October 2nd, also at Sky City. The winner will walk away with some prizes as well as the opening slot at this year’s BloodFest!

But first…the bands scheduled so far to appear at this year’s BloodFest:

CHAIRLEG (no one does metal and horror better!)
CYCLE (special reunion show)
Youth@Risk (special reunion show)
88MPH (Metal in your face!)

more to be announced soon!

This year we are looking for one killer up and coming band to kick things off at BloodFest and to do so the Bloodfest Battle of the Bands was born. Of course the winner will also get some cool prizes and stuff but…it will take one bloody special band to kick off BloodFest and it won’t be easy. First there’s the task of GETTING INTO the Battle of the Bands.

Until August 20th, aspiring area metal bands will be able to submit for their chance to go into battle…but they won’t be alone…their fans will be a huge part of determining if they get to fight or not! Each submission will be posted right here in BloodFest Central From August 21st to September 18th to bloody up the ears of the metal masses and get voted on. On September 19th the lineup for the BloodFest Battle of the Bands, to be held October 2nd at Sky City, will be announced.

The Bloodfest Battle of the Bands will take a cue from another old one-time Augusta tradition, the Master’s Massacre…in that bands will be timed on setup (15 mins), set time (30 mins), and breakdown (10 mins) plus scored on various categories (total possible points is 100). But fans will also have their say by circling their fave band on a special ballot given out upon entry to BloodFest.

At the end of the night…the most ferocious, bloodiest, band will be crowned and set forth to bloody the stage to kick off BloodFest!

Area bands can enter by emailing an mp3 with additional info such as band name, contact, contact email, and any online web addy info to:

bf16@lokalloudness.com

So…let the bloody games begin!

Walking all over the competition at area Battle of the Bands back in the late 80’s, Science Friction would go on to pack lokal clubs and open for big names coming to the area. But one thing the band never accomplished, despite being one of the few rock bands to play mostly originals in Augusta, was releasing an album of material.

Now it’s 2010 and all that is about to change…but not in a way you might expect.

Now with a back catalog of one-time crowd favorite rock anthems like “Having a Party” it sure would be easy to rush out a CD’s worth of material but now twenty years older and wiser, the guys decided to jump in deep and have created close to a dozen brand spanking new tunes that are in the process of being put down on tape.

Kick starting the tunes will be “Listen to the Music” due out August 20th on “A Very Lexie CD 2010″ which the band will play at the CD release and Memorial Concert also on August 20th.

In addition to a new fall release, NoStar also recently contributed the track “Baby My Heart” to the upcoming “A Very Lexie CD 2010″ which is due out August 20th.

For more info go to http://www.nostarband.com

Josh Kelley, elder bro to Lady A’s Charles, will make a solo appearance August 28th at Bell Auditorium for a concert that will benefit the John W. Kelley, M.D., Cardiovascular Endowment.

Kelley, who started off in music with Charles in Augusta band Inside Blue,which also featured Patrick Blanchard (Shawn Mullins) and guitarist Adam Hatfield (The Big Mighty) now will also join Charles in the field of country music having recently joined the Universal Music Group Nashville family.

Josh Kelley is currently at work on his debut country album with a single due later this year.

Tickets for this event are $27, $32, and $37 and are available at http://www.augustaentertainmentcomplex.com/

While recording acoustic demos with the same producer who watched over sessions for the “North” portion of McCranie’s “North/South” double EP disc set, McCranie found himself finishing up thirteen hours later…and with a full length’s release worth of recordings.

The upcoming release, to be titled “smile.shift.speak” will contain 90% live acoustic takes with a couple tracks featuring the guitarist from McCranie’s live band.

Look for the release to be out by the end of July at least via digital download.