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Intelligencer Journal

OK, it's time once again to Rock 'n' Roll with Rios and Roberts, the guys who keep you up to date on what's happening in the local music scene.

A little of this and a little of that adds up to a lot of action for local bands.

St. Patrick's Day helped bring in the green for local Celtic acts.

Fire in the Glen sold more than 1,100 copies of their new CD, "Let the Wind Blow High," during their second annual St. Patrick's Day appearance on QVC. Not bad considering the CD hadn't even been officially released.

The "official" CD release party was last night (Thursday) at the Elizabethtown Hotel, 28 S. Market St., Elizabethtown. No word yet on how many CDs they sold at the "official" release party.

The 16-tack CD features Chet Williamson on lead vocals and guitar and Tom Knapp on fiddle, bodhran and backing vocals A mix of mostly traditional songs and fiddle tunes, it also includes two band originals: the whimsical "From Amish to Irish" and the lovelorn "Waking Alone."

Don't watch TV shopping channels and couldn't make it to the "official" CD release party? You can buy it online at www.rambles.net/fitg or at the band's next live gig, April 7 at the E-town Hotel.

Local band Inishowen (www.inishowenmusic.com) did double duty, playing Coakley's Restaurant & Pub in New Cumberland for lunch and Kirby's Restaurant and Pub, York, for dinner and thereafter.

The four-piece band trucked to Teaneck, N.J., last month for a radio interview with Ron Olesko of Fairleigh-Dickinson University's WFDU-FM 89.1. The interview will air May 22nd and can be heard on the Web at www.wfdu.fm. Isn't that convenient?

The band plans to release its second CD, "The Banks of Newfoundland," early next month. Its first CD was reviewed in the Spring '05 issue of Sing Out, the quarterly Bible of the folk music world, and the February/March edition of Dirty Linen.

Next gig: a Susquehanna Folk Music Society coffeehouse with several other bands at the Fort Hunter Barn on North Front Street in Linglestown (just north of Harrisburg). Music starts at 7.

CD releases left and right.

Altercana will hold a release party April 1 at the Blue Star Hotel, 602 W. King St., for their new six-song, all-original CD "Frequent Starts" on Nico records.

Music starts at 10 p.m. and will showcase a number of special guests, including but not necessarily limited to singer-songwriter Jack Dillman; Jeff Bowman of Nothing But Oregano; and members of the band Slimfit. Cover is $5.

The CD will be available at shows and the band's Web site, according to Altercana's singer, A.J., who described the band's sound as "rock and roll with a little bit of a twang to it."

Can't wait a week? You can download sample tracks at the band's Web site (www.altercana.com).

High Falootin's new CD is now being being mastered in Nashville, where it was originally recorded. Intermittent overdubs and the final mix were done at Obsession Room Studios here in Lancaster.

Release is slated for April 7, just in time for the band's April 8 gig at the Lancaster Dispensing Company and April 9 gig at McCleary's Pub in Marietta.

Featured on the CD are Dave Hurd, frontman and guitar; Matt Underhill of Inca Camper fame on mandolin and guitars; Chad Kinsey of Burning Bus fame on dobro, guitar and backup vocals; and Charlie Burnett, who appears to be playing with nearly every band in Lancaster at the moment, on upright bass and backup vocals.

And Dave Stahl (www.davestahl.com) is bringing his big band - and we mean big! - to New Holland Thursday for a CD release party.

The 17-piece outfit will be at The Ritz on Main, 138 E. Main St., where the tracks from the CD "Live at the Ritz" were recorded over two nights in December.

The show begins at 8 p.m. Admission is $6.

Stahl is well-respected in the industry, and the list of artists he has performed with makes it clear he has the chops to hang with the greats: Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Liza Minnelli, Count Basie and Buddy Rich to name a few.

On "Live at the Ritz," the band performs 11 tunes including four originals and several arrangements of songs like Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" and Tower of Power's "Squib Cakes."

The Reese Project (www.wyndfallrecords.com) is in Wilmington, Vt., today and Saturday to perform and meet with the head of 95 North Records.

They'll be performing at Mo' Jazz Cafe both days at 9 p.m. Saturday's gig is a showcase for 95 North, when the group also is supposed to meet with the record label's CEO/president, Chris Wood.

The Project's most recent CD, the nine-track "Apocalyptic Hayride," has been well-received and has enjoyed lots of radio airplay on stations like Temple University's WRTI-FM.

Tom Reese told us he hopes to release a new CD of mostly American standards in May or June.

Tentatively titled "Eastern Standard Time," the CD will include covers of "Impressions" by John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk's "Blue Monk."

The 10-song CD will include three or four original tracks.

The Reese Project will be in Pittston April 25 to perform a live radio broadcast for PBS for WVIA. The performance will be videotaped in front of a studio audience, and copies of the performance will be sent to PBS affiliates across the country for airing in the future.

It looks like the final loose ends are being tied up for Halestorm (www.halestormrocks.com) to appear at WMMR's Spring Break 2005 April 8 at the Liacouras Center, 1776 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, on the main campus of Temple University.

The free event begins at 6 p.m. and is sponsored by WMMR (FM 93.3) and Grape Street Philadelphia.

Headlining the event will be Billy Idol, who'll be joined on the main stage by Silvertide and Collective Soul.

A representative from WMMR's promotions department Thursday said it looks like Halestorm and possibly another act will take part in the event on a second stage he said most likely will be added.

Tickets for this event are available only through WMMR either by listening to the station or by attending "ticket raids" at various locations across the Delaware Valley.

For more information, visit www.wmmr.com or Halestorm's Web site.

Thrash metal band Belligerent (www.belligerentmetal.com) recently bought some practice space at a warehouse on Queen Street.

The five-man band - Jim Zimmerman, singer; guitarists Todd Zettlemoyer and Dave Constable; John Ferguson, bass; and Dave Stauffer, drums - is working on new material as it puts together a tour.

They look forward to promoting their most recent EP, "Dying World."

Cabrini College radio station 89.1 WYBF FM recently asked the boys to drop by April 23 to perform a couple of songs and do an interview.

Ferguson said a preliminary song lineup for that day is "No Mercy," "My Revenge" and "Injustice." Ferguson said the song "My Revenge" has received airplay on 105.7 FM.

We'll let you know when the guys are ready to tour.

Angelo Melasecca, aka Angelo M (www.angelom.com), is just back from the Apollo Theater in New York City, where he performed John Mayall's "Room to Move," the same tune that attracted the Apollo's attention of the when Angelo played it for the Apollo Tour Show at the Strand Capitol.

But he won't be back for long.

On April 22 he's returning to the Strand Capitol Performing Arts Center (www.strandcapitol.com), 50 N. George St., York, as part of The Studio at the Strand series, which features some of the region's best acoustic and jazz performers.

The show runs from 7-11 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door.

Later this summer he'll be headed to Johnstown, where he's been booked for two slots in the town's three-day FolkFest over Labor Day Weekend. Way to go, Angelo.

No word yet on when Angelo's Apollo appearance will be broadcast, so STAY TUNED. When we know, you will.

Remember Delta Jelly? Remember Carol Jones? If you've heard her play slide guitar, you'll remember her.

The former Delta Jelly singer/guitarist is back. Last Saturday she and her bassist, Dale Martin, sat in for a set at the Lucky Dog Cafe with Blue Light Special, and this Saturday she'll be performing with her new band, Carol Jones and Friends, at Bube's Brewery in Mount Joy. The show starts at 10.

Her friends include Sherry Saltzman on vocals, Dale Martin on bass, Matt Dahlheimer on guitar and harmonica and Martin on bass and clarinet. Yes, you read that right - clarinet. Carol says it adds just the right touch to some of their earlier blues numbers, like Bessie Smith stuff.

Sounds just right to us.

Fox's loss is our gain. Amy Banks' TV show "Design Invasion" didn't make the cut, but that's OK with us because it means she'll be back for the "2005 Revue" at American Music Theatre, which runs from June 3 to Oct. 15.

No official word yet on what she'll be doing, but the rumor is it could be might sing "Someone to Watch Over Me" and/or make an appearance as Tina Turner. Give us a choice and we'd pick ... BOTH!

In the meantime, you can catch Amy at her newest venue, The Studio At The Strand, at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center (Now where have you read about that?). She'll be appearing there April 8.

Lots of good works in the offing. That's good.

The Conestoga Calvary Choir will be making one of its rare in- person appearances 7-11 p.m. April 2 at the Millersville Veterans of Foreign Wars. Proceeds benefit the Millersville University Relay for Life team.

CCC guitarist Steve Chambers promises plenty of blues, rock 'n' roll and R&B, plus a few original tunes, when the Choir takes to the stage - quite a departure from its early shtick: tongue-in-cheek church choir stuff.

Tickets are $15 each and are going FAST. Call Kathy Warwood at 872-9734 NOW if you're thinking about tickets. Price includes beer, food and soda.

The same night (doesn't it figure?) a batch of area acts - Blue Light Special, Chris Morris, Slimfit (www.slimfit.us) - will be performing for Operation Phone Home, a benefit to help troops phone home on Mother's Day, at Lancaster Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1690, 343 New Dorwart St. Action starts at 3 p.m.

Admission is a $10 prepaid international calling card. (Now that's different) or $10 cash (that's not).

Drop by - and don't forget to call your mother.

And speaking of Blue Light Special ... rumor is the band was so desperate for a male vocalist Saturday night that they actually asked a music columnist to sit in. We hope front man Jim Phippes' voice gets better soon. It's bad enough we have to read these people - letting one sing is unconscionable.

So what's your band (or solo act) up to? Please e-mail any tidbits of news to arioslnpnews.com. (For best results, copy it to jrobertslnpnews.com and put "R&RwithR&R" in the subject line.) Or you can drop off band pix, CDs and tapes at the Lancaster Newspapers office, 8 W. King St.