By: Eric Hoffman
Greetings Rockers ’N’ Rollers! As the pandemic continues, music artists are doing their best to provide entertainment and satisfy their creative outlets. Online streaming concerts have become quite the norm and local artists are being able to perform to limited crowds. The restaurant, Taste Key West, has been doing a great job bringing bands on Saturdays to downtown Harrisburg’s 2nd Street, which is closed to traffic thus allowing outdoor dining. Swisher Sweets, Kurlou Reggae AllStars, Emily’s Toybox, Soul Miners Union and a Jimmy Buffett Tribute Band have all played recently and next month features Smooth Like Clyde and possibly The Martini Bros. The band, Happy Sally, put on a great show with their honky tonk country music at Springgate Winery on August 15th – which featured both their original music as well as country classics. Two bigger shows announced for next month include legendary locals – KIX on September 5th and The Sharks on September 19th. KIX will play the Susquehanna Valley Event Center in Selinsgrove with limited tickets available to provide a safe occupancy level. Tickets are $45 and the event will operate at 10% of capacity so attendants will have plenty of room to spread out. The Sharks will team up with The River 97.3 on September 19th for a concert in Dillsburg at Haar’s Drive-In Theatre. The live performance will also be projected behind the band on the movie screen, the cost is $30 per vehicle.
NATIONAL NEWS: MTV says it is ditching plans for indoor performances for its upcoming Video Music Awards, opting for outdoor shows spread throughout New York City instead. Organizers had planned for some performances inside Brooklyn’s Barclays Center for the August 30th show, but say they will follow the guidance of state and local officials to move them outside. A statement by MTV and the Barclays Center promised the show would “pay homage to the incredible resiliency of New York with several outdoor performances around the City with limited or no audience.” The show plans to return to Barclays for its 2021 edition. The ceremony bestows new awards focused on live performances and music videos created at home during the pandemic. Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande are the leading nominees with nine apiece.
Nearly two decades after the slaying of hip hop star Jam Master Jay, federal prosecutors say they have solved one of New York City’s most enduring unsolved killings, charging two men while suggesting the artist, celebrated for his anti-drug stance, may have been ambushed over a cocaine deal. The suspects were identified in court papers as Ronald Washington, who is currently serving a federal prison sentence stemming from a string of robberies he committed while on the run from police after Jay’s 2002 death, and Karl Jordan Jr., who is also charged with engaging in an alleged cocaine distribution conspiracy in 2017. Prosecutors allege, Washington, waved a handgun around and ordered people in Jay’s Queens recording studio to lie on the ground, providing cover while Jordan fatally shot him in the head on Oct. 30, 2002. Jason “Jay” Mizell, known professionally as Jam Master Jay, was a member of 1980s hip-hop sensation Run-DMC. Jay was shot once in the head with a .40-caliber bullet by a masked assailant at his studio in Hollis, the Queens neighborhood where he grew up. He left behind a wife and three children.
An amazing livestream event took place on August 21st, “A Song For Joe: Celebrating The Birthday of Joe Strummer” uniting some of the late Clash founder’s closest friends including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Weir, Jeff Tweedy, Tom Morello and Lucinda Williams. Event organizers, Jesse Malin and company assembled the event in only a month – an achievable feat given the widespread reverence for Strummer, who died in 2002. The show featured great renditions from notable artists of the music of Joe Strummer. The streaming event, coincided with what would’ve been the rocker’s 68th birthday is able to be viewed on YouTube.
Neil Young has sued President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign for copyright infringement, saying he doesn’t want his music used as a theme song for a “divisive un-American campaign of ignorance and hate.” The Grammy-award winning, Canadian-born musician filed the lawsuit through his lawyers in Manhattan federal court, seeking up to $150,000 in statutory damages for each infringement. The legendary singer cited repeated use of two songs: “Rockin’ in the Free World” and “Devil’s Sidewalk.” Young said he was not suing to “disrespect the rights and opinions of American citizens, who are free to support the candidate of their choosing. However, in good conscience cannot allow his music to be used as a ‘theme song’ for a divisive, un-American campaign of ignorance and hate.” Young added, “Imagine what it feels like to hear ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ after this President speaks, like it is his theme song. I did not write it for that.”
Greetings Rockers ’N’ Rollers! As the pandemic continues, music artists are doing their best to provide entertainment and satisfy their creative outlets. Online streaming concerts have become quite the norm and local artists are being able to perform to limited crowds. The restaurant, Taste Key West, has been doing a great job bringing bands on Saturdays to downtown Harrisburg’s 2nd Street, which is closed to traffic thus allowing outdoor dining. Swisher Sweets, Kurlou Reggae AllStars, Emily’s Toybox, Soul Miners Union and a Jimmy Buffett Tribute Band have all played recently and next month features Smooth Like Clyde and possibly The Martini Bros. The band, Happy Sally, put on a great show with their honky tonk country music at Springgate Winery on August 15th – which featured both their original music as well as country classics. Two bigger shows announced for next month include legendary locals – KIX on September 5th and The Sharks on September 19th. KIX will play the Susquehanna Valley Event Center in Selinsgrove with limited tickets available to provide a safe occupancy level. Tickets are $45 and the event will operate at 10% of capacity so attendants will have plenty of room to spread out. The Sharks will team up with The River 97.3 on September 19th for a concert in Dillsburg at Haar’s Drive-In Theatre. The live performance will also be projected behind the band on the movie screen, the cost is $30 per vehicle.
NATIONAL NEWS: MTV says it is ditching plans for indoor performances for its upcoming Video Music Awards, opting for outdoor shows spread throughout New York City instead. Organizers had planned for some performances inside Brooklyn’s Barclays Center for the August 30th show, but say they will follow the guidance of state and local officials to move them outside. A statement by MTV and the Barclays Center promised the show would “pay homage to the incredible resiliency of New York with several outdoor performances around the City with limited or no audience.” The show plans to return to Barclays for its 2021 edition. The ceremony bestows new awards focused on live performances and music videos created at home during the pandemic. Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande are the leading nominees with nine apiece.
Nearly two decades after the slaying of hip hop star Jam Master Jay, federal prosecutors say they have solved one of New York City’s most enduring unsolved killings, charging two men while suggesting the artist, celebrated for his anti-drug stance, may have been ambushed over a cocaine deal. The suspects were identified in court papers as Ronald Washington, who is currently serving a federal prison sentence stemming from a string of robberies he committed while on the run from police after Jay’s 2002 death, and Karl Jordan Jr., who is also charged with engaging in an alleged cocaine distribution conspiracy in 2017. Prosecutors allege, Washington, waved a handgun around and ordered people in Jay’s Queens recording studio to lie on the ground, providing cover while Jordan fatally shot him in the head on Oct. 30, 2002. Jason “Jay” Mizell, known professionally as Jam Master Jay, was a member of 1980s hip-hop sensation Run-DMC. Jay was shot once in the head with a .40-caliber bullet by a masked assailant at his studio in Hollis, the Queens neighborhood where he grew up. He left behind a wife and three children.
An amazing livestream event took place on August 21st, “A Song For Joe: Celebrating The Birthday of Joe Strummer” uniting some of the late Clash founder’s closest friends including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Weir, Jeff Tweedy, Tom Morello and Lucinda Williams. Event organizers, Jesse Malin and company assembled the event in only a month – an achievable feat given the widespread reverence for Strummer, who died in 2002. The show featured great renditions from notable artists of the music of Joe Strummer. The streaming event, coincided with what would’ve been the rocker’s 68th birthday is able to be viewed on YouTube.
Neil Young has sued President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign for copyright infringement, saying he doesn’t want his music used as a theme song for a “divisive un-American campaign of ignorance and hate.” The Grammy-award winning, Canadian-born musician filed the lawsuit through his lawyers in Manhattan federal court, seeking up to $150,000 in statutory damages for each infringement. The legendary singer cited repeated use of two songs: “Rockin’ in the Free World” and “Devil’s Sidewalk.” Young said he was not suing to “disrespect the rights and opinions of American citizens, who are free to support the candidate of their choosing. However, in good conscience cannot allow his music to be used as a ‘theme song’ for a divisive, un-American campaign of ignorance and hate.” Young added, “Imagine what it feels like to hear ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ after this President speaks, like it is his theme song. I did not write it for that.”