The bearded blues rock trio that provided so many memorable guitar riffs will stop in at Nampa's Idaho Center Amphitheater on Aug. 5. Yep, that's another outdoor show. Hooray!

Tickets for ZZ Top cost $29, $39 and $49 and will go on sale Friday, May 30, through IC Tickets and TicketWeb outlets. 

 

 

 

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— Entertainer of the year: Kenny Chesney
— Top male vocalist: Brad Paisley
— Top female vocalist: Carrie Underwood
— Top vocal group: Rascal Flatts
— Top vocal duo: Brooks & Dunn
— Top new male vocalist: Jack Ingram
— Top new female vocalist: Taylor Swift
— Top new duo or vocal group: Lady Antebellum
— Album of the year: “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend...read more

In Friday's Ramblings column in PLAY, the date was incorrectly listed as this Thursday, May 21. On June 21, a sign will go up that reads Knitting Factory Concert House.

  

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Well, I'd heard that Canyon County was an option to host the Chicago-based American rock band this summer, but the Eagle/Star area isn't far off. Wilco, a Grammy winning band and critical darling, will stop in at the Winery at Eagle Knoll on April 20.

The show is part of the Vintage '08 Summer Concert Series, presented by the Record Exchange and brought to you by Idaho Concerts, which also includes...read more

Two stellar shows from the alt-country scene have been added to the Treasure Valley's outdoor concert schedule: Steve Earle, the "hardcore trabadour," with guest Allison Moorer on July 11 and Neko Case, also of the New Pornographers, on Aug. 29.

Both shows will be held at the Winery at Eagle Knoll, a gem of a venue for outdoor concerts so long as the weather cooperates.

Tickets for both...read more

Visit the bizarro world!

For the first time, Rambo fans can see their beloved hero get waxed during a never-before-seen alternate ending that will be shown as "First Blood" hits theaters Thursday night for a one time showing. Locally, all three Edwards Theaters in the Treasure Valley will carry the movie, including Nampa's Edwards 14 which has a showing slated for 7:30 p.m. 

Honestly...read more

It's not so strange when a band has to cancel a show, but we're looking at three artists bowing out of Boise in less than a week:

1) Sunday's OTEP show (also Creature Feature, Eyes Set to Kill and New Revolution) has been postponed due to illness. A rescheduled date is expected to be announced shortly.  

2) Critical Bill will still perform at Boise's Big Easy on May 22, but Primer 55 will not...read more

I can't begin to tell you how tired the Coldplay-esque piano-rock sound has become. So I'm rather excited to hear Chris Martin and crew have decided to blow things up a bit for their new album 'Viva La Vida Or Death and All His Friends," due out June 17. Will  Coldplay followers embrace the band's thirst for creativity? Who knows. After two listens, "Violet Hill," a single off the...read more

Nampa grad, The Very Most to release ‘Congratulations Forever’

Maybe it’s the water. Or the plumes of smoke and steam rising from the local sugar plant. Or backlash from generations of ridiculous over-exposure to all things country music.

The fact is Nampa has produced some of the Treasure Valley’s most talented musicians devoted to creating...read more

Nampa musician learns how ‘to Stop Worrying and Love the Madness’
 
Terrific madness exudes from the first full-length release from The Invasion, a promising indie outfit that isn’t afraid to call Canyon County home.

A frenetic mash-up of mad melodies, rollicking piano, trumpet and guitar fuzz, “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the...read more

Nampa man releases 2nd rock opera

Big. Epic. Inspiring. While these words could prove suitable adjectives for Matthew C. Vander Boegh’s second rock opera, “Blood Red,” set for release at Boise’s Record Exchange today, they most certainly describe his vision.

When most local musicians are stoked to post a few tunes on a MySpace page, Vander Boegh, who currently lives in Nampa while working in sales and as a teacher at BSU, poured “thousands” of hours into his second musical opus.

The scope of “Blood Red” is impressive. Vander Boegh recruited 15 musicians, chose to tackle a complicated issue and enlisted star-talent like East Coast vocalist Robin Andre, whom Vander Boegh says was an original member of the R&B group The Fugees. It all comes together three years after he released his first rock opera, “The Erinys,” his master’s thesis at BSU which explored the justification of revenge and violence.

On “Blood Red,” Vander Boegh poses the questions, “Where do ideas of racism come from, and what does it lead to?” He jokes he’s “probably red-flagged by the government” after visiting white supremacist Web sites doing research.

“The rhetoric that they use and the language is just so completely insane and just so way out of left field,” Vander Boegh says. “It’s hard to believe that people actually believe in it. But they do, and they’ll do crazy things because of it.”

Vander Boegh wrote the songs, played bass, some trumpet, programmed the album’s electronic effects and guided the smallest details. He also recruited a talented group of musicians to work with, including vocalists Anthony Fagiano (Midline) and Joel Kilmes (Cocoa Pele).

But the real prize was convincing Andre to fly in for three days to lend his R&B vocal stylings to the heavy rock backdrops.

“I was looking for someone who had a real soulful, black voice,” Vander Boegh says, “and that’s just something we don’t have around here.”

The album was recorded and mixed at the Audio Lab in Boise, then sent it off to be mastered by Mike Bozzi, who has worked with Nine Inch Nails, Janet Jackson and 50 Cent.

Vander Boegh felt his ambitious product needed to be done right in order to properly carry the weighty message he hopes “Blood Red” will convey. And while the album would be difficult to perform live, he hopes to pursue turning it into a film.

- Ben Fletcher, PLAY editor 

(For more info visit www.myspace.com/vanderboegh) 

(Appeared in March 14, 2008 issue of PLAY Magazine)

 

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“These Dreams of Mine,” Bill Coffey & Ned Evett (Beehouse Records)

Live albums aren’t for everyone, though everyone lately seems to be releasing one. But on “These Dreams of Mine,” super locals Bill Coffey and Ned Evett, with a seamless combination of sweat and sheen, make it look easy.

The disc is certainly a songwriter’s affair.

The troubadour Coffey uses words and simple melodies to tell his stories, often discerning meaning from everyday minutiae such as boxes and U-turns, although love’s tangles never linger far. Meanwhile, fretless guitar whiz Ned Evett, who as a solo artist writes and performs his own songs, effortlessly communes with Coffey’s earnest twang via his electric and reasonator guitars.

The union is a blessed one, and that’s no bloated praise saved for local efforts, not that Coffey and Evett are your typical “local” musicians, having played and toured with various projects extensively for years.

“These Dreams of Mine” was recorded live, meaning no overdubs, in front of an audience at The Tonic Room in Boise over two nights last March. The result shines over 13 tracks of blue-collar Americana, with no discernible let-downs to be found during the live takes. Unscripted moments — such as a female member of the audience copping to a solo sneeze during the performance of “The Beginning of the End” — only add to the album’s charm.

“Did you do it on the beat?” Coffey asks the sneezer.

“These Dreams of Mine” is a fine effort, piloted by two seasoned musicians who care enough to bless each song with a songwriter’s touch.

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"Due to transportation issues" the Tantric show at Boise's Big Easy tonight has been cancelled, according to Knitting Factory Entertainment. Guest bands for the show included Framing Hanley and Foster Child.

Tickets purchased online or via phone will be automatically refunded.

Get refund for tickets purchased at TicketWeb outlet by sending them back to : Ticketweb Refunds, P.O. Box 77250...read more

Let's face it, supergroups Velvet Revolver and Army of Anyone did little to make us forget about the stellar '90s rock riffage of Stone Temple Pilots. I think Scott Weiland and the DeLeo brothers sensed this, too, and realized their best days were behind them, intertwined. Well, the grunge-posing four-piece is back after eight years, with the band announcing this week they're kicking off a 65 date...read more

"Never Apologize: A Personal Visit With Lindsay Anderson," a film by Caldwell's Mike Kaplan and starring legendary actor Malcolm McDowell, will finally be screened in the director's backyard. The movie is set to play at Boise's The Flicks for a week-long stint starting April 25, Kaplan said Monday. A previous screening slated for Jan. 12 was scrapped after McDowell, who was slated to attend and...read more