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Posted On 2/29/2012
Davy Jones of The Monkees (12/30/1945 - 2/29/2012)
Written By James Downing
I just learned that a member of one of my all time favorite bands, The Monkees, passed away today. Davy Jones died of a heart attack today Feb 29, 2012 in Florida. He was 66 years old. I never had the chance to see The Monkees together as a band but I did get to see Davy several times as a solo act. His shows were always fun and his voice always sounded in top shape.
Posted on 2/24/12
Written by Josh Jackson
I have always said what an incredibly hard job it is to produce a show like the Grammys that tries to cover all the bases of what is out there in popular music today (For those who wonder what it’s like producing shows like this, there are online courses on music production and sound design that covers all the basics).
While the 54th Grammys was a very “classic” leaning show, there were lots of styles and variations included that gave it a well-rounded feel, almost to a fault – but more on that later. Really, it all comes down to this. When you open a show with “The Boss,” Bruce Springsteen, and end it with Paul McCartney, does anything else in the middle matter much?
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Posted 2/7/2012
Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull has produced a follow up from his 1972 hit album “Thick As A Brick”. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of ‘Thick As A Brick,’ on April 2nd (April 3rd in North America) Ian Anderson will release a sequel to the original album, “Thick As A Brick 2″.
To coincide with this groundbreaking release, for the first time since 1972, Anderson and fellow musicians John O’Hara (keyboards), David Goodier (bass), Florian Opahle (guitar) and Scott Hammond (drums) – as well as some guest performers – will take to the road to perform the album in its entirety and, it can now exclusively be revealed that, in addition, there will be a second part to the show where Anderson and the band will also perform the sequel.
Below is a Message From Ian Anderson himself…
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Posted on 1/30/2012
Written by Mike Arnold
The main guitarist of the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards, wrote a book about his life simply called… “Life”. This is our first book review on Concert Blast and we may have more to follow.
Keith Richards’ book, Life is appropriately named due to that is exactly what it is, a journey through his life. The book begins as he and Ron Wood are being arrested in Arkansas as they are driving their rental car to the next city during one of the many Rolling Stones tours… and they have plenty of drugs on them, in them, and in the car.
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Posted on 1/20/2012
We felt Concert Blast had a successful year in 2011 with our stats and the experiences we were very blessed to encounter. We will have a series of Concert Blast Blogs from each of us that is dedicated to 2011 as Mike Arnold, James Downing, and Tom Thompson remember their favorite times covering events for Concert Blast.
Here is Mike Arnold’s Concert Blast Favorites from 2011.
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Posted on 1/17/2012
We felt Concert Blast had a successful year in 2011 with our stats and the experiences we were very blessed to encounter. We will have a series of Concert Blast Blogs from each of us that is dedicated to 2011 as Mike Arnold, James Downing, and Tom Thompson remember their favorite times covering events for Concert Blast.
This Blog is Tom Thompson’s Concert Blast Favorites from 2011.
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Posted on 1/15/2012
We felt Concert Blast had a very successful year in 2011 from our stats and the experiences we were very blessed to encounter. This is the first in a series of Concert Blast Blogs from each host that will be dedicated to 2011 as Mike Arnold, James Downing, and Tom Thompson remember their favorite times covering events for Concert Blast.
Enjoy James Downing’s favorite 2011 Concert Blast Experiences!
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Posted 1/13/2012
The year of 2011 is now in the history books. Concert Blast had another successful year of improving our stats from the previous year. We want to thank everyone who has ever downloaded/listened to our podcasts, read our blogs, and looked at our photos. Let’s make 2012 even a bigger and better year! With having 292,785 downloads of our podcasts in 2011, we devote this blog to our various Top 10 Stats from 2011.
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Posted on 12/24/11
Glen Campbell In Concert - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium - 11/30/2011
Written by James Downing
I have told the story here on Concert Blast about how my dad brought home a record player one day when I was about seven years old. That day changed my life forever and opened the world of music up to me. My mom was a big country music fan and would buy many records. She would sit in my bedroom with me and we would listen to many of them. Loretta Lynn, Bing Crosby, Donna Fargo and the list goes on and on. There was one album that she bought that I really liked and that was a Glen Campbell album. My favorite song off that album was called “Gentle On My Mind”. I soon discovered that this guy had his own tv show each week and I would watch it everytime it came on. As I grew up and started listening to rock and roll music, Glen Campbell’s music remained on my record player along side Alice Cooper, The Who, Kiss and all of the other bands that I listened to.
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Posted on 12/18/2011
The Crowd - Nashville's Party Rock Band
On Friday December 9th 2011 something happened at a music club in Nashville, TN that members of the party rock band from the 80’s, The Crowd, thought would never happen… a reunion show!
Two members of the Concert Blast team, Mike Arnold and Tom Thompson, were part of the rock band that began performing cover songs at parties in the early 1980s, decided to write and record a few original songs, had those originals played on the radio and began thrilling crowds at the private parties, rock clubs, colleges, and music festivals. Now in 2011 the guys returned to a rock music club in Nashville, TN, Douglas Corner Café, to perform a reunion show to celebrate their first gig from 30 years ago. Also joining the reunion on stage was Tom’s twin brother and bassist of the band, Jim Thompson, the latest lead guitarist, Gary Conn, and the original lead guitarist, Dwayne Smith.
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Posted on 12/02/2011
1980 four friends got together to practice their instruments they were learning to play. Within one year they decided to perform at a party. That party led to another party, which led to another party, which led to another party and on and on… This band of four friends that grew up together was known as “The Crowd” (Mike Arnold (of Concert Blast), Tom Thompson (of Concert Blast), Jim Thompson (Tom’s twin brother), and Dwayne Smith). In the early 80s, The Crowd became known as Nashville’s Party Band as they not only performed at parties, but also at various nightclubs, colleges, and music festivals in the middle Tennessee area.
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Posted on 11/15/2011
Written by Guest Blogger Josh Jackson
On Thursday October 13th, I had the pleasure of working the 10th Annual Americana Music Awards at the Ryman Auditorium. For those not up to speed, ‘Americana’ is defined as ‘materials relating to American history, folklore, geography or considered to be typical of American culture.’ Musically speaking it has typically meant ‘folk’ music, but in recent years has broadened to include forms of country, rock, blues & even jazz. The Americana Music Association has really taken strides to promote and encourage the genre nationwide and the popularity of their annual awards was evident by a sold out Ryman Auditorium.
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Posted on 11/07/2011
MEMPHIS, the 2010 Tony® Award Winner for Best Musical, and the show that’s currently blowing the roof off Broadway, opens at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, November 15, for a limited engagement!
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Posted on 10/19/2011
Billy Burnette In Concert
Written by James Downing
Billy Burnette is a legend in the rockabilly field. In fact next month he will be inducted into the Rockabilly Hall Of Fame in Jackson, TN. He grew up in music and was playing live with his dad in the Rock And Roll Trio at a very early age. He has also played with some of the biggest names in music. Everyone from Bob Dylan to Fleetwood Mac to Roy Orbison to John Fogerty has been involved with Billy musically.
Concert Blast was invited to cover Billy Burnette’s CD release show for his new album “Rock & Roll With It”. A CD that is chocked full of the type of tunes that Billy’s fans love. Good ole rockabilly. I had always loved listening to Billy’s music but had never seen him live. I had heard that Billy’s shows were very good, full of energy and a lot of great music. Well, that is just what I got!!!
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Posted 10/15/2011
Written by Josh Jackson and Cory Woodroof
I love music – particularly live music. So much so that I would go see just about any band, of any genre, if given the opportunity. So, when my wife’s cousin and journalism student at Lipscomb University, Cory Woodroof, invited me to this weekend’s 3 Doors Down concert at The Woods at Fontanel – I jumped at the chance.
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CONCERT BLAST EXPERIENCES