By Julia Kazar Musician David Gerrard has been making music for over thirty year now, an acoustic guitar player Gerrard combines his musical influences with his own personal take on folk music and ends up with a classic folk sound updated for the twenty-first century. Gerrard’s shows usually consist mostly of covers of others music, but he is constantly working on music of his own and implementing it into the show when he thinks it will fit in. But make no mistake about it David Gerrard is by no means just a cover artist, he is as dedicated to his own music as he is to recreating songs d...
By Julia Kazar If you’re a Springsteen fan then you will definitely want to check out his new album/DVD combo. It’s a thirty song recording of a concert he did in Hyde Park London recently, and it’s aptly called London Calling: Live in Hyde Park by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The show opens with a cover of the classic Clash song “London Calling” and even though it’s not really the E Street Band’s style of music they make an honest attempt at the song. What makes it cool though is that at every Springsteen concert fans will throw requests on stage and at ...
By Julia Kazar It seems like today most bands feel that if they don’t make it big and become hugely successful they give up on their music all together. They care more about becoming famous than about enjoying themselves and having fun. Psychostick isn’t one of these bands. They are all about having fun, with everything they do. Formed over ten years ago, Psychostick is a hard rock band that has always put having fun first. They even find a way to laugh at their most embarrassing moments, like tripping on stage and their pants falling down. If you look up any of their v...
The Ruckus, a ska/rock band from Kansas, has just released its second CD called Never Stop. This summer they are touring all around the country in support of it. The Ruckus was formed back in the mid 2000s by eight guys who wanted to combine their love of live music and good times. The result is a bit like the Mighty Mighty Bosstones; a little rock and punk, with a heavy ska influence and progressive music thrown in, too. The title track of the album is a fun, upbeat song that would fit in with any jazz music lineup. The horn section makes the song. It’s obvious that all the me...
Canton’s own Macy Gray recently released her fifth studio album, The Sellout. This is a very personal album for Gray and she doesn’t shy away from talking about what she was going through when making the album with her fans. The first track on the album, “The Sellout,” is about how when she first started this project- she planned to make a straight pop album. But as she went on she realized that she wasn’t being true to herself and, because she didn’t want to become a sellout, she knew she would have to make some changes so the album would truly reflect who Macy Gray is. Th...
By Julia Kazar August Burns Red, a metal band from Pennsylvania is coming to Musica in Akron on Wednesday night as part of their summer tour. The band was formed back in 2002 while the members were still in high school, back then they performed all over their hometown and surrounding areas, but because of their young age the kept it limited to those areas only. Now that they are older they have expanded their touring to all over North America. They have shows ranging from Ohio all the way to Brazil. August Burns Red released their third studio album, Constellations, just last year and ...
By Julia Kazar Country singer Elizabeth Cook has just released her fifth studio album, Welder. The album has already received many positive reviews. Cook has been making music for most of her life, she comes from a musical family and they taught her to sing at a very young age. But she didn’t make her musical debut to the public for awhile. She released her first album, The Blue Album, back in 2000 when she was twenty eight years old. Since then she has been consistently making records. Her latest album is quickly becoming her most successful, and for good reason too. The album...
By Julia Kazar On December 25th 2006 America lost The Godfather of Soul, James Brown, but you can still hear his music, as well as the music of other R&B and soul musicians of the 70’s and 80’s, performed live. On Saturday, July 3rd, at The Northside Bar and Grille in Akron Get On Up, a tribute band, will be performing the soul singers greatest hits. As if singing Brown’s hits wasn’t enough the band also tackles other classic acts including Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Earth Wind & Fire just to name a few. So, no matter what kind of funk and soul music Get On Up decides to...
By: Julia Kazar Richard Christy from The Howard Stern Show and Tim Ripper Owens, the former lead singer for Judas Priest, were at The Tap House in Akron last night for a meet and greet before they launched their tour for their band Charred Walls of the Damned. The band came out to The Tap House to meet the fans, have a good time and to pose for plenty of pictures for Buzzbin magazine, which you can check out on our website. Don Jamieson, comedian and host of That Metal Show on VH1, also did a short set that evening. If you’re a metal head come check out Charred Walls of the Damned when th...
By Julia Kazar For the ninth year the Ohio Shakespeare Festival is returning to Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens to perform two more of Shakespeare’s famous plays. This year the shows that will be performed are; The Taming of the Shrew, and King Lear. Both shows are performed outside on the beautiful grounds of Stan Hywet. One of the things that make this production unique compared to all the other ones out there today is that they use some of the structures that are already in existence at the lagoon area of the grounds. It really helps the play come alive and seem much more natural. ...
By Julia Kazar When Clay's Park opened for the season on Memorial Day weekend, they debuted a lot of new attractions. One of the most popular is their new Adventure Water Park. There is a designated Kids Adventure Zone with inflatables for them to play on, as well as slides and swinging rope monkey bars, and a rope hammock. For adults there is another inflatable slide, a log roll, and water basketball and volleyball, as well as swimming for everyone. There are also kayaks available for people to take out on to an open part of the lake. For kids the highlight of the water park seems to be...
jbspBXbK8YY By Julia Kazar Folk singer Leah Ashton is just starting her musical career and despite still being one of the new kids on the block she is already making a big name for herself. Thursday night was her Ohio CD release party to promote her newest CD; Things Better Left Unsaid. If the crowd at Musica that night was any kind of judge, it is going to sell big. One audience member, Rob Wemhoff, said about Ashton and her music; “she has a great voice, and I can picture her singing some place in Vegas, she has that kind of voice.” Leah opened the show with her own unique versi...
By Julia Kazar After almost a year of anticipation, Toy Story 3 finally came out on Friday, much to the excitement of kids and adults alike. And with strong numbers for the opening weekend, the movie is number one across the country and has already made over $109 million; it's sure to be just as big a success as the first two movies were. The third installment opens with Andy, the owner of Woody, Buzz, and all the other toys we have all grown to love, getting ready to go off to college. While packing Andy must decide what things he wants to take with him to college, what things he wa...
By Julia Kazar Experimental rock can be one of the hardest styles to get right, and to make sound good. But Thee Oh Sees seem to know exactly how to do it. And they are putting their own modern twist on psychedelic music at the same time. Their 11th album, Warm Slime, which was released in May, combines psychedelic rock, with heavy metal, and a lot of screaming to make one original album, and fans can’t seem to get enough of it. The title track off the album is also hands down the one that stands out the most. At over thirteen minutes long there is plenty of time to experiment w...
By Julia Kazar Soul singer Leah Ashton will be at Musica in Akron this Thursday to promote her new album; Things Better Left Unsaid. The album is the second full length album for the singer/songwriter, although music seems to just run through her veins. She has been singing and performing ever since she was a toddler, performing at church and family evens whenever she got the opportunity. As she matured she began playing shows all over her hometown of Akron, Ohio at local coffee shops and other small venues. In 2005 she enrolled at Anderson University to pursue a music degree. When ...
By Julia Kazar Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers are known for their unique style of rock and roll music, but when they set out to make his latest album they decided to do things a little differently. Instead of following the formula that has worked for the band for years, a mix of heartland rock and catchy pop, they went with a more country and blues inspired theme, and it might not have been the best choice for them. Credit where credit is due though, this album was recorded mostly live. Luckily, Tom Petty, and all the Heartbreakers are incredibly talented musicians so what came out wa...
By Julia Kazar Singer/songwriter Jack Johnson just released his fifth studio album To the Sea, a collection of melodic acoustic songs that follow the same style that Johnson has been perfecting since the beginning of his musical career over ten years ago. In addition to his musical talents Johnson is also a big time environmentalist; he is constantly trying to raise money for environmental education and different groups who are doing positive things in their community. His tour to support To the Sea is even taking steps to be a more ‘green’ tour. 100% of the profits he makes fr...
By Julia Kazar The Westside Relay for Life is taking place this Friday and Saturday at the Copley High School track. Relay for Life takes place in over 5,000 communities around the United States, and also in over 20 countries every year. It is a fun event where everyone in the community can get together to raise money for cancer research, and honor those that are fighting the disease or have lost the battle. There will also be a relay taking place in Canton at Canton Central Catholic Stadium. Every relay consists of teams, usually of about 10-15 people who take turns walking around t...
By Julia Kazar The retro sounding British band 22-20’s have just released their latest studio album, Shake/Shiver/Moan. The band’s name comes from the classic Skip James blues song “22-20 Blues” Although the band started out as a blues band they quickly realized that the style of blues that they wanted to play didn’t match what their audience wanted to hear. They were often told in rehearsals that they couldn’t play certain songs because the club owners didn’t think they sounded enough like blues songs. So they decided to follow in the footsteps of one of their major influenc...
zCcTivaToRA By Julia Kazar Colin Shoff might just be the hardest working 17 year old out there today. He’s already booking major gigs at bars and clubs all around the Akron area, including Annabell’s and Musica. He is getting ready to release his first album, The Struggle. Oh, and he has Tourette's, but he doesn’t let that get in the way of achieving his goals. In fact some people don’t even realize he has it. “I thought it would have a big effect on my music, but it really doesn’t at all. There will be times where I’ll get off stage and I’ll be kickin’ it, and people...
