By Malcolm X Abram Beacon Journal pop music writer Donna Summer, the singer/songwriter known as the “Queen of Disco,” has died at 63 after a battle with cancer. The singer, five-time Grammy winner and two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominee’s family released a statement: “While we grieve her passing, we are at peace…
Bonnie Raitt is back and still relevant
Bonnie Raitt is back.
The 62-year-old singer/songwriter/guitarist/rock hall of famer has returned to active duty as one of pop music’s most respected veteran artists.
The Abram Five: May 17
1) Come Fly Away, 7:30 tonight-Saturday, 1:30 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Palace Theatre at PlayhouseSquare, 1615 Euclid Ave., Cleveland; $10-$77.50, 216-241-6000, www.playhousesquare.org. The final performances of the Twyla Tharp dance musical about love, featuring the music of Frank Sinatra. 2) Spark! Family Film Fest, noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Charles and Jane…
Sound Check: The Royalty plays tonight at new ‘dive bar’
A relatively new venue in downtown/East Akron, Old Haunts Tavern, which held its grand opening in February, will welcome a band with a very new album tonight.
Donald "Duck" Dunn, legendary soul bassist dead at 70
Awesome bass player, inadverdent race relations pioneer as part of Booker T & The MGs, R.I.P. From the L.A. Times Donald "Duck" Dunn, the bassist who helped create the gritty Memphis soul sound at Stax Records in the 1960s as part of the legendary group Booker T. and the MGs and contributed to such classics…
Rock Hall CEO Terry Stewart to retire at the end of 2013
Soundcheck: Dwele returns to UA’s Keepers series
On Saturday night, the third season of the Keepers Lounge at the Stage Door at E.J. Thomas on the University of Akron campus (whew! that’s a mouthful) wraps up with the return of indie soul singer Andwele Gardner aka Dwele.
Abram Five
1) Mint Condition, 8 p.m. Friday, House of Blues Cleveland, 308 Euclid Ave. $29.50-$50, 216-523-2583. The long-standing R&B band — yeah, that’s right, B-A-N-D! — returns to NE Ohio to remind folks that R&B artists used to play instruments and sing. 2) I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday,…
Queensryche singer Geoff Tate plays solo show in Akron–TONIGHT!
Queensryche singer Geoff Tate will be in Akron tonight at Ripper Owens Tap House at 8 p.m. Tate will be performing unplugged takes on his solo stuff and Queensryche classics. If you’re a Queensryche fan (and that band still has a very loyal following) here’s a rare chance to see him up close and personal…
Album review: Akron’s Bizarros release ‘Complete Collection 1976-1980’
The Bizarros were one of the Akron bands that during the late 1970s — when the city’s music scene was being called “the new Liverpool” by U.K.’s Melody Maker and a “hotbed of rock ’n’ roll eccentricity” by Rolling Stone — seemed poised to carve out a space in the growing art/indie rock scene, along with Tin Huey, the decidedly less artsy Rubber City Rebels, art-concept/new-wave kings Devo and others.
Beastie Boys rapper Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch dead at age 47
Adam Yauch, better known by millions of music fans as MCA of the pioneering rap trio the Beastie Boys, died Friday at 47 years old. Yauch had been receiving treatment for cancer since 2009, when he discovered a cancerous parotid (salivary) gland in his mouth. His illness had kept the group off the road since…
‘Marley’ insightful look at the man and his music
Robert Nesta Marley has been dead for 31 years, which is only a few years shorter than the 36 years he spent on Earth.
Malcolm X Abram: Weird Al still weird after all these years
You know him.
You may have loved him at one point in your youth or you may be a youth just discovering him. Perhaps you’re an adult taking your youth to see him. Heck, you may not even care about his 30 years in the music business, but you probably don’t hate him.
