Machine Head is dead. Long live Machine Head.
When Machine Head was first booked to play The Clyde Theatre on October 26, it looked like a “nice get” as the iconic thrash band has usually chosen to bypass the Summit City in favor of bigger markets when mapping out their tours. With the announcement, fans of the band began to eagerly anticipate the rare visit to our area, knowing that “An Evening With Machine Head” meant two and a half hours or more of pure cacophony that would create memories they could brag about for years to come.
Now, with news of the imminent breakup of the band s... Read more

Martin Barre was the guitarist of classic rock masters Jethro Tull for 43 years, leaving the band in 2012 when he and Tull vocalist Ian Anderson decided to split up, eventually forming separate solo bands. Barre’s playing and sound played a major part in the success of the Jethro Tull, a band that has sold over sixty million albums worldwide. Barre owns a Grammy Award for Jethro Tull’s 1987 opus Crest of a Knave and was voted as having the 25th best solo ever recorded for his playing on Tull’s “Aqualung.”
The appropriately named Martin Barre Band, having just released a new album, R... Read more

If you’re into dramatic comeback stories, you won’t want to miss “The Rach 2,” Fort Wayne Philharmonic’s October 27 concert.
Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18, the concert’s centerpiece, is not just one of the most well-known piano concertos of all time, but it also represents the composer’s rebound from a near career-ending depression, a turnaround that gave us four more decades of unforgettable music. If you were making a movie of Rachmaninoff’s career, his second piano concerto would certainly be the climax.
As if that isn’t enough intrigue t... Read more

A hall of spiders. A bridge over live rats. A room of bats. A tomb. A treasure chest. A spooky library.
All of these delights, and many more, await visitors of the Green Center Haunted School House in Albion, a popular Halloween attraction for more than three decades.
Although a tradition for many who visit, even repeat visitors find new thrills and chills each year, thanks to the spooky obsession of one man who has been at the heart of the Haunted School House from the very beginning.
Bill Pappe spends much of his time dreaming up new adventures for the building, which actually was a school... Read more

Bruce Springsteen has spent the last year or so sticking close to his New Jersey home, entertaining his fans from the comfort of a nightly Broadway stage. But members of the band that he has called “the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, hard-rocking, booty-shaking, love-making, earth-quaking, Viagra-taking, justifying, death-defying, legendary E Street Band” have each found their own ways to keep on rocking until they get a call from their Boss to return to their musical home.
Indiana fans can catch one of the most legendary of those famed sideman at the Honeywell Center later this month wh... Read more

Menopause. It’s a natural part of aging and over six thousand women begin it every day. It’s certainly nothing to laugh about, or is it?
Menopause The Musical chooses to look at menopause in a comedic way and aims to inject humor into the natural body progression as it follows the exploits of four women who shop for lingerie at a Bloomingdale’s sale and eventually sing songs about chocolate cravings, hot flashes, loss of memory, nocturnal sweats, and other predicaments.
The musical numbers parody classic tunes from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, including “Stayin’ Awake” and “P... Read more

You might not know the name Chuck Sperry, but there’s a good chance you have seen his art work at some point. Sperry and his art are in high demand in the music world. He has designed prints for Widespread Panic, Ben Harper, The Black Keys, Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, and The Who, to name just a few. In addition, Sperry has been featured in several documentaries and books, as well as featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Spin, The Independent, and Billboard. Sperry has art on display in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Now we have a chance to experience the magic of Sperry right h... Read more

While music created by guitars has been providing artistic pleasure to millions for many years and through many musical genres, the beauty and artistry of the guitars themselves are finally getting their due, thanks locally to a new exhibit at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art.
Medieval to Metal: The Art & Evolution of the Guitar allows visitors to study and admire the instrument itself as a piece of art and sculpture, one to be admired even momentarily disconnected from the music it creates.
Bringing this exhibit to Fort Wayne has been exciting for Charles Shepard, president and CEO of the Fort W... Read more

If you’ve been hanging around Fort Wayne over the past twenty years or so, chances are you know the name David Todoran & The Mobile Homewreckers.
These cats have been making music in various forms and with various locals talents in styles as diverse as pop/rock, Americana, and Byrds-y twang. Being a distant rural yokel and looking at the Fort Wayne music scene from a county or two away, I can say that the name David Todoran is one I’m familiar with, but I’m just now getting familiar with one of his albums. His newest, Apparition, is an absolute gem.
Todoran said this about its release, ... Read more

Right off the bat, the new album by Fort Wayne garage punk band Slug Love is hard-hitting and chunky and chugs along at a higher BPM. The first track on Underside, “Flying Discs,” has the type of riff that every band has ever played in a bar, but without the carbon copy feel to it. Its back-and-forth power chords launch Underside, and when the song lands, the underground heart of the record helps cushion the blow.
As it progresses on, the slower songs (though there are no real slow ones) and the more tender parts of the band’s songwriting offset all the super-sweet riffing and the old-s... Read more

Nate Utesch has been the leader and sole constant in the electronic band Metavari since its inception in 2008. He’s cultivated the sound and aesthetic from the sprawling vastness of post-rock to a much tighter electronic feel. If you listen to early Metavari, such as 2009’s Be One of Us and Hear No Noise, and compare it to 2015’s Moonless, you will hear a much different band. But under the surface, Metavari remains the product of Utesch’s singular vision.
Metavari is now a one-man band, a studio project composed and recorded by Utesch in his home studio. When the band plays shows, Utes... Read more

When you grow up in a small town but catch glimpses of what could be from your bedroom window, what does an angsty kid do about it? Some buy a guitar and amp, put their list of small-town and big-world issues to paper, and write songs. Then they find some like-minded guys and gals to spread their message of disenchantment from town to town. That was the case of Fort Wayne’s F---ing Panthers. This four-piece began their musical journey fresh out of high school and wrote punk and metal-infused songs about small-town life and the daily grind.
The guys built a following and put out Learning To ... Read more

Fort Wayne has plenty of guys and gals that work behind the scenes to help make the community the thriving, creative space it has become. One of those people is musician, studio runner, and jack-of-all-trades Jason Davis.
As owner/operator of Off The Cuff Sound in Fort Wayne, Davis has recorded bands as diverse as Legendary Trainhoppers, Addison Agen, Heaven’s Gateway Drugs, Water Witches, the D-Rays, and James and the Drifters.
But when Davis isn’t recording other artists, he’s booking studio time for his own band, Streetlamps for Spotlights.
“Streetlamps formed around 2004 as a wa... Read more

When local band elle/the Remnant released Skies I’ve Learned How to Love in January 2018, it must have seemed like a long time coming.
In 2014, the six-piece band had just come off a one-year hiatus and had reformed with a new spirit and a handful of new songs. Over the next four years, they recorded the 12 songs on Skies.
It was worth the wait.
The album, best categorized as indie-folk-Americana, finds Coplin and Armstrong, as well as bandmates Jessica Becker, Edith Coplin, Jen Foster, and Kelsey Schneider, in an adventurous mood. Driven by Armstrong’s propulsive guitar and Coplin’s cl... Read more

For nearly a decade, Tony Richards Didier shared the microphone with Charly Butcher. Today, Didier is one of many who are mourning the loss of their former colleague and friend.
Butcher died Aug. 15 of an apparent cardiac event. He was 61 years old.
“We did the morning show on WMEE together and we had so much fun,” Didier said. “We were young and did silly, stupid things on the air. Many of them took on a life of their own.”
Among Didier’s favorite memories is the creation of the Maumee River Monster.
“We got six months out of that bit,” he said. “It was so real. We just made ... Read more

Jordan Plohr wouldn’t exactly describe himself as a “born performer,” but he has been one for almost as long as he can remember. His first role was as Joseph in his preschool/kindergarten Christmas pageant.
“I don’t know that (performing) interested me beforehand,” he said. “It was one of those things they make you do at that age. But I remember it very vividly, and I must have enjoyed it because I kept seeking out opportunities to perform.”
Although he’s the only actor in his family, he does come from an artistic background.
“My parents are both pretty good at sketching,�... Read more

With a name like F---ing Panthers (blame them for the censorship), you can mostly guess what you’re in for: fast punk rock where the shows are overflowing with PBR and the crowd is rowdy as hell. And you’d be right to some regard. But what FP do best is mix these antics, in the spirit of Fidlar or even local steamroller Flamingo Nosebleed, with personal content and deeper meaning like any worthwhile guitar-based band.
The band, which currently consists of lead vocalist Billy Rivers on guitar, bassist Nate Green, “Diamond Boy Daniels,” and Ben Kelly also on guitar, and drummer Matt Brow... Read more

With just a year under their belts, local poppy-garage band Sad Gravity have established themselves, at the very least, as a band that can open up for anyone and can do so with competitive talent. Members Connor Corwin, James Valdez, and Nolan Dye take a cue out of Parquet Courts and add in a foreword by Jimmy Eat World to create “sad lyrics with upbeat music” as quoted by Dye via email.
“We overlay emotional lyrics over fast-paced, driving instrumentals,” said Dye, who plays drums for the group. “The themes are very much consciously presented and implemented.”
Though you can ... Read more

Although a successful professional for more than three decades in Fort Wayne, Christopher Guerin never strayed far from his love of language, literature, and writing.
Having spent his childhood on the move as a self-described “Air Force brat,” Guerin lived in places as varied as the Wyoming, the Philippines, and Illinois. The latter was where he finally settled down enough to earn two degrees (a B.A. and an M.A.) in English literature at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. Moving to Chicago to be with his future wife, the couple eventually moved to Colorado where Guerin spent six ye... Read more

When talks began at the former IPFW to separate campuses and change to Purdue Fort Wayne, there was understandable concern among the communities both on campus and off about what this would mean for Fort Wayne’s largest university.
But in the case of one area of campus, the results have not only spelled a huge growth academically, but have also meant a higher profile in the Midwest and beyond.
The music department in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, including multiple and varied degree programs, is now the Purdue School of Music. It is led by its director Greg Jones, who served as... Read more

“Every day is an adventure at the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo.” But when a day also has a Halloween-centric theme, that day becomes an extra special adventure.
The Wild Zoo Halloween, taking place at the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo on successive weekends of October 12-14, October 19-21, and October 26-28, is billed as a “merry not scary” event aimed primarily at younger children. Kids and their families are encouraged to traverse the paths of the zoo in order to catch a glimpse of some of their favorite animals while wearing this year’s choice of costumes.
Whether you choose to be ... Read more

Academy Award-winning director Damien Chazelle reunites with his La La Land star Ryan Gosling in First Man, an emotionally enthralling and sensorily spectacular account of Neil Armstrong’s life leading up to the Moon landing.
Not only is this a fitting biopic for an American hero, it’s also an ode to the men and women who dared to do the impossible and made incredible sacrifices so that we could extend our reach in the universe. What’s distinctive about Chazelle’s vision of space travel is how he tethers the hopes and dreams of NASA’s brightest to the overwhelmingly dangerous operat... Read more

I lived on Custer, a white hood
Filling my living room window.
On a June afternoon I stood
On the summit in blooms of snow,
An hour later in sun below.
The peak was seldom where you were
And never where you were not sure
A great presence of white and pink,
As if by thinking, made you think.
The Utes called it “Tava” or sun,
As if there must be more than one,
Needing light close enough to touch,
To take away, but not too much,
Or soon the mountain would be gone.... Read more